HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (reviews)

As a 2nd year International Business student who has experienced their first year with online classes (thanks to COVID) and their second year in face to face, I can give a fully transparent and honest review about how my study has been so far.
At the beginning, despite the online classes, the teachers gave their best to teach and support the students where it was possible. Of course, it was more difficult to understand things, and honestly, our passing quote after the first year was not very high with about 20% passing all grades of the first year. You have multiple possibilities to take a resit – so don’t worry if you don’t pass immediately!
At the beginning of my second year, everything was face to face again, and we finally had classes on campus. The campus of Utrecht is huge, both the HU and UU are sharing it. The HU buildings are brand new, modern, and clean.
However, As this second year continued, some problems appeared which were not very visible at the beginning.
– There is a lack of communication among lecturers, semester coordinators and students. This lack of communication affected the lectures, the final assignments and therefore, the grades.
– The quality of lectures is dependent on the lecturer. While some classes have had a great lecturer with a teacher that could explain everything, other classes had teachers that have never taught the subject before. Therefore, these classes had disadvantages, leading to bad grades or inequality among the classes.
– International Business is a very broad program. This leads to advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are that you get to know many different areas of the business world, as most things are covered. However, this is also the disadvantage. Because so many different topics are taught, you do not go too deep into a specific area, which makes me personally feel insecure about different topics (because I just do not know enough of one single topic).

I wish I had known this from the beginning before I started studying at the HU. Despite these disadvantages, it is overall a good university with a lot of international students, group projects that showcase the real business world and most final assignments consist of group reports and presentations, instead of exams where everything has to be memorized.
Besides, a big advantage of this study is that you get the opportunity to go abroad three times. Within the program, there are two internships and one semester study abroad.

The city of Utrecht is a beautiful student city with many cafes, bars and restaurants!

I hope I was able to give better insights into some pros and cons when studying International Business at the HU!
Good luck!

Having entered the second year of my study (International Business FT), here is what I have seen so far. The course is designed to give students like myself, an idea of what is happening out there. Instead of taking tests and memorizing text; you are presenting proposals, writing academic reports and even doing primary market research. The program is designed to give you experience, and if you think you can keep up, join the Fast Track Program, where you save a year, despite going on two internships and semester abroad.

Sure, the first semester is straightforward; but moving forward, your time management skills become essential, and teamwork only increases. In a matter of months, you face a consistently changing, yet rewarding environment. The culture here is engaging and creative, where study coaches and professors not only guide, but encourage their students to implement out-of-the-box thinking to creative solutions, particularly in sustainability (PPE).

Now, for the practical student concerns: Housing on campus is provided for first years, at least 8 lanes of public transport, parks and bars spread across remote campus and most importantly, the food is affordable, yet

The HU is a great university with a very international touch; you can meet people from all over the world, and although the big campus can seem overwhelming at first, it made me feel very at home. From my own experience, the course International Communication and Media (now called Creative Business) delivers a great toolset for anyone who wants to do “something with media”. It simply gives you a little bit of everything but allows for a stronger focus in certain areas later on. Although it felt a bit all-over-the-place at certain times, it’s good that they are continuously adapting the program to prepare us for the current working world out there.
In short, the HU offers international students a great program that hands you a slice of nearly every aspect of communication, allowing you to figure out what your favorite part is along the way.

As the title suggests, in my experience as a third-year business student, that is the best short description that can be given to HU. It definitely is not the best school and there are flaws, very annoying and disappointing at times, which take time to be solved. Most of these flaws are related to communication issues.
In contrast, it has some advantages too. I had the opportunity to meet and be taught by experienced professionals who helped me develop my skills and enhance my knowledge and abilities as a young business student and professional.
Another very good advantage is that at HU you get to do 2 internships and one study abroad, trio that other universities do not offer. Also, with the new program, there is so much flexibility to shape your own path but also the opportunity to study more languages which constitute a great asset for one’s future career.
The city represents a good pawn as well since it is very central, modern and student friendly. Also, for someone who wants to travel every now and then, it is a perfect location.
What I can recommend you, the one who reads this review, the undecided student, is that you should consider these things when you decide which school you want to go to, try to have your own trade-off between what is important to you and how the institution is ranking in different aspects. HU is, in the end, a good school and the issues that are going on are not major and are fixable so do not worry too much about that. I just wanted to be realistic while writing this review because this is what I would have liked to read when I was in your place.
Good luck!