VSNU

Profile

Founded in 1636 and located in the heart of the Netherlands, Utrecht University is one of Europe’s leading research universities, recognised internationally for its high-quality, innovative approach to both research and teaching. In the prestigious Shanghai ranking of the world’s top universities, Utrecht University takes position 42 worldwide, number 7 in Europe and number 1 in the Netherlands.

The unremitting care for quality in research is reflected in the list of Nobel Prize winners, of which the Nobel Prize in physics, awarded to ‘t Hooft and Veltman is the most recent. Utrecht University participates in large scale research programmes, such as climate, genomics and pharmaceutics programmes.

Interdisciplinary research, personal teaching and the benefits of an international environment are the main principles of education and research. Teaching methods are characterized by an undergraduate phase where the focus lies on training in academic skills and acquisition of subject specific knowledge. Specialization takes place in graduate degree programmes and is organized in graduate schools. Students are offered research, professional, or teacher-training programmes. Many of these are presented in English, thus setting up conditions for the development of a truly international university.