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Amsterdam

Netherlands · Europe

The Dutch business and technology centre, where English-taught degrees and English-speaking workplaces are the norm rather than the exception.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you want an English-taught European degree with a real route into work afterwards and can fund the tuition. Look elsewhere if cost is the binding constraint, or if you can't handle the risk of arriving without a room.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

A housing shortage severe enough to be the main reason students struggle here, and non-EU tuition well above Germany's.

The way in

The widest set of English-taught bachelor's degrees in continental Europe, and an 'orientation year' permit that lets you stay and look for work after graduating.

Living there

What living here is actually like

Flat, wet, cycled everywhere, and organised around getting things done directly. Dutch bluntness is a real adjustment, and mostly a kind one. The city is small, international and walkable, with the rest of Europe a short train away. The catch is housing: finding a room is the hardest part of the first year, and scams aimed at arriving students are common.

How the money works

Non-EU tuition is real money rather than a formality, and the system is at least transparent about it: you pay the institutional rate and scholarships are limited and competitive. Living costs are driven by rent, the tightest market in this guide. Part-time work is allowed with a permit and the wage floor is decent, which makes a student job worth having rather than symbolic.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

As far as a degree and a technology job go, this is the most English-functional country on the map. You won't be held back in either. Where it stops is the paperwork: the tax office, the municipality, your health insurer and the water board write to you in Dutch only, and every long-term route through immigration expects Dutch eventually. Plan on learning it if you intend to stay, and not if you don't.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work Amsterdam is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • University of Amsterdam

    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Natural Sciences
    • Business & Economics
    • Law

    Degrees taught in English

  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Natural Sciences
    • Medicine & Health

    Degrees taught in English

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.