University of Amsterdam boasts a stunning and expansive campus that provides students with a beautiful environment to learn and thrive in. The accommodations are affordable and offer great value for the price, with a wealth of amenities available to support students. The faculty members are exceptional and approachable, always willing to provide guidance and knowledge to their students.

I completed a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business at the UvA. The program that teaches English is quite good. particularly in contrast to the Dutch course. Remember that research, not instruction, mostly contributes to the UvA’s prestige. The UvA’s bureaucratic structure is, in my opinion, its main flaw. However, you will receive greater care as an international student than we Dutch citizens do. Additionally, be prepared for a large number of Chinese students who will doze off during lectures, don’t appear to speak English, and will stomp you in exams.

I think the instruction at UvA is of the highest caliber. None have been voiced. I couldn’t have a comprehensive understanding of economics course instruction in 6 months at ucd Dublin. In contrast to what I learned at UCD, in my opinion, the economics approach at UvA is more practical and mathematical. The reason I said this is because it is a requirement for our second-year economics courses at the University of Amsterdam. However, it is considered one of the first-level courses with code 1000 at UCD (with 2000 means second level). To a freshmen with a simple mentality, it seems as though UQ is saying, “Here is all about economics; recognize its importance; take a position right away.”

The program is good for people who want to get deep into economic theory and learn how it works even to a quantitative level. It is a difficult program to do well in part because of how quantitatively demanding it is (math1/econometrics will make you suffer), but also because in my opinion there is such little class/professor time that you will certainly find it difficult to prepare for your final exams – the profs are great for the most part but it feels like I only paid for their trial versions. Most exams in this course feel like you are never prepared for them, always throwing ridiculous questions way outside the scope of the material, it’s almost impossible to get an 8.5-10. About 1/3 of my class relied on outside sources (exam prep companies) to actually get decent grades in our course. If you tried to pass Econometrics just by going to all the lectures and tutorials, you can expect a 2-3/10 without the use of these companies. It’s expensive and a little silly from a top uni in my opinion. Also if you are from Italy, Greece, Portugal, or Spain get ready to be blamed for the financial crisis… so much explicit material is made out to slander these countries, especially in the IMF module. Also if you are an international student, don’t expect to make friends with the Dutch people in the course, they mostly stick to their own groups and hardly want to socialize in English in my experience. That said, the international body is great and very inviting, again just my exp. The course is cheap which is a plus but accommodation in Amsterdam is mega expensive, and so are the costs of living. Overall the course is thought-provoking and challenging which is fantastic but it just feels so held back by its poor structure, sparse teaching and ridiculous self-study expectations (you must remember every word of every lecture verbatim for a 8-9), and pretty poor international experience.

So far, I have enjoyed this program. However, I expected something better and thought that we would have more possibilities to meet new people. When it comes to studies alone, they are well structured and easy to understand. I cannot say that I would recommend this program because I feel like I haven’t experienced it enough. The campus is also in a prime location, with a canal crossing right through it and both metro and tram stations nearby.

The programme consists of a wide variety of courses which enable students to get a great overview of economics and business, but also to specialize in the fields of interest. Being part of an international student community in the beautiful city of Amsterdam is a life-changing experience. The degree offers broad research and career opportunities. It could be a bit challenging at the beginning, but in my opinion, it is really worth it. I highly recommend the programme to every person who would like to delve into the topic of economics!

I am currently studying Economics and Business Economics. I love my studies, because I can explore deep economical concepts by myself with help of great lecturers and tutors. Indeed, studying at UvA is mainly self-study and creative intelligent self-work. I love that concept, where I have a lot of flexibility to pursue my hobbies and extracurricular activities.

You are nothing but a number to them. They don’t care if you succeed or fail, they already got your money and there are just too many students for them to care about any of them. They will welcome any student with the ability to pay from any country in the world, they won’t warn you that student housing is nearly impossible to find and outrageously expensive. I spent several months homeless and sleeping on friends’ couches due to the housing shortage and no one at the university cared enough to even respond to my emails asking what services were available to homeless students. They just don’t care about you or your educational pursuits, they just want your sweet sweet international tuition fees. The other big issue is that the academic standards are just all over the place, some teachers seem to be incredibly rigorous and mathematical and others entirely theoretical. Some professors have some weird grudge against helping students be prepared for the exam, it’s like they think that if you had been paying attention then you should already know everything there is to know about the subject so there is no need to review the important concepts. I just wanted to know what I needed to focus my energy on but most teachers treated me like I was asking to cheat when I asked for an old exam or practice test.

I absolutely disliked my time at UvA, I studied there for a year at the economics and business faculty. I didn’t like how students were supposed to do all the work with almost no support from the faculty. Studying at UvA was more like working at a job where there was absolutely no support. In the end I think especially for bachelors degree studying at UvA was the worst decision of my entire life. It was extremely expensive as as international student and the services provided by university weren’t worth it. However the only plus point was I got to meet with a lot of people since the course I was a part of in the first year had almost a 1000 students. So I got to meet a lot of people from all over the world and made lots of friends which I will stay in touch forever.

Extensively International environment, rigorous but a very modern course structure (BSc Econ and Business Econ). Easy access to various digital learning resources. Lots of follow up work to keep students in the flow of their work. Beautiful campus, amazing city, fantastic social life

However, there’s a lack of events designed to help students communicate and integrate into their university life.