Requirements 2025-2026

You have been awarded a havo or vwo diploma with the required subject cluster and can demonstrate that you have passed your school-leaving examination in the subjects listed below:

If you have been awarded a havo or vwo diploma with a subject cluster offered at secondary school level until 1 August 2007, your subject cluster is out of date. An easy way to find out whether your subject cluster is out of date is to check whether your cluster contains numbered subjects, such as Economie 1, Economie 2, Wiskunde A1 or Wiskunde A2.

A havo or vwo subject cluster that is out of date does not give you direct access to higher education. Your diploma will be assessed on the basis of the current havo and vwo subject cluster requirements for the study programme of your choice. As a result, your diploma may not meet the entry requirements and you will be deemed ‘inadmissible’ to the study programme of your choice. In order to be admitted, you will need to sit a deficiency test before you can be enrolled as a student.

If you have not taken the subjects listed above, you must sit a deficiency test via www.toelatingstoetsen.nl prior to the start of the study programme. In order to be admitted, you must pass one of the exams listed below:

• Not applicable

At Saxion, all students with a recognised MBO level 4 diploma are welcome. This means that the course and the associated diploma must be recognised by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

More about switching from mbo to hbo

You have been awarded a Dutch preliminary study diploma which has been judged to be at least equal to a vwo, havo or mbo (level 4) diploma, or you have been awarded a Dutch certificate to demonstrate that you have passed the first-year or final examination of a higher education programme (hbo or university). See also ‘Redressing deficiencies for other diplomas’.

Foreign diploma? You are eligible for admission to Saxion if you have a diploma not issued in the Netherlands, which has been established to be at least equivalent to the above-mentioned vwo, havo or mbo-4 diploma.

Even if you are admissible on the basis of another Dutch diploma, you should bear in mind that you must still meet the subject cluster requirements. If you do not meet these requirements, you must sit a deficiency test prior to the start of the study programme and pass one of the exams listed below:

• Not applicable

If you do not meet any of the above requirements, if you are 21 years of age or older by September 30 of that year, you can participate in the '21+ examination' before the start of the study programme. You will be admitted to the study programme if you pass all of the parts of the 21+ exam listed below:

• English 
• Aptitude test

You can read the content requirements for the deficiency test and the 21+ examination on the page about admission. After you apply for the study programme, you will be emailed with more information about this, along with a participation form for your 21+ examination. Do you also have deficiency courses you need to fulfill? If so, please go to www.toelatingstoetsen.nl to apply. 

If you have been awarded a non-Dutch diploma which has been judged to be at least equal to a vwo, havo or mbo-4 diploma, you must demonstrate that your command of the English language meets at least the havo-school leaving examination standard. Please check the international entry requirements for more information.