Artificial Intelligence

Check whether you meet the programme requirements and apply

• I have a Dutch university level (WO) Bachelor’s degree (VU Bachelor’s degree, VU pre-master or Bachelor’s degree at another university)

  Admission to this Master's programme is open to students with a Bachelor's degree in Artificial Intelligence or students from Computer Science or Psychology. The student is assumed to have programming skills (Python or Java), to have general knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and a basic working knowledge of computer science, logic, mathematics, and psychology. Under specific circumstances other students may also be admissible. Applicants without an Artificial intelligence or Computer Science Bachelor's degree are required to take this Programming test in Python.

  A prerequisite of the master AI is that you have programming skills. This test is developed for checking whether you have the right level of programming skills. This test is obligatory if you do not have an Artificial Intelligence or Computer Science Bachelor's degree. You have to pass this test for entering our master program. If needed, we recommend using this book as a reference point, and this (online) course.

  In addition to the admission requirements above, the following selection criteria apply:

  • A high general academic level demonstrated by a minimum undergraduate GPA that is equivalent to 7.0 in the Dutch grading system.
  • A strong motivation and relevant knowledge, skills and competences demonstrated. This can be demonstrated in your motivation letter and CV. Recommended elements of the motivation letter are: relevant AI Bachelor courses, relevant AI projects, the topic of your Bachelor project/thesis, your tentative MSc programme (track/electives), relevant internships, working experience, publications, etc.

  Your motivation will be assessed on the following components:

  • Academic, professional, or practical experience in AI or related fields, such as; projects, internships, tools, programming languages, methods.
  • Clear motivation and goals for pursuing MSc in Artificial Intelligence.
  • Writing quality (structure, grammar, professional tone) and factual, specific details provided on achievements, methodologies etc.

• I have a Dutch higher vocational education (HBO) Bachelor’s degree (pre-master)

  Under specific circumstances students who do not have a background in AI or computer science may also be admissible. Students with other diplomas, both from a research university or a university of applied sciences (HBO), are kindly invited to contact the AI department (for the email address, see below) if interested in following a pre-master's programme at our department. 

  In general, the pre-master's programme Artificial Intelligence (AI) is intended for students with a University of Applied Sciences degree in an AI-related direction that does not provide direct access to the Master's programme AI. For further information regarding procedures on composing the pre-master's programme for Dutch University of Applied Sciences graduates see also this page.

  Pre-master's programme
  After completing the pre-master's programme, you can enroll in the Master's programme AI. A course package of up to 30 ECTS, dependent on the deficiencies is compiled for each individual student. The pre-master must be completed in one academic year. 

  It is mandatory to submit a recent bachelor's transcript. On the basis of this, the Admission Board will determine whether you can be admitted to the pre-master. 

  General language proficiency requirements
  Students with a Dutch bachelor's degree do not need to pass a English Language proficiency test. 

• Application with a Dutch degree

  The Artificial Intelligence programme is open to both Dutch and International Students. The Faculty’s Admission Board will decide upon your admission after having evaluated your complete online application. You find all information about the general application procedure with a Dutch degree on the application page.

  Use this form to apply for the Master’s: Application form Master's Artificial Intelligence.
  Use this form to apply for the pre-Master’s: Application form pre-Master's Artificial Intelligence.

  The application deadline is:

  1 June for holders of a Dutch bachelor’s degree (with a Dutch or EU/EEA nationality).

  Your application will be rejected in case you didn’t upload the required documents in ‘your dashboard’ within 6 weeks after your enrolment in Studielink, OR in case you’ve uploaded (one or more) of the required documents after June 1^st. Applications and documents submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.

  Required documents (deadline June 1^st)

  This (Pre)Master’s programme requires students with a Dutch bachelor's degree to upload the following documents (in English) as soon as possible and in any case 6 weeks after your enrolment and before 1 June.

  • Bachelor's transcript, including your GPA.
  • Motivation letter.

  Your online dashboard gives you an overview of the submitted and missing documents. Check your dashboard regularly.

  Additional required documents (deadline August 31^st)

  • Sufficient programming test result (obligatory if you do not have an Artificial Intelligence or Computer Science Bachelor's degree).

  You can submit the result of the programming test after you have been conditionally accepted, the deadline for submitting the test result is August 31^st. Please send a scan of your test result to toelating.beta@vu.nl.

• I have an international degree

  Admission requirements

  Students must meet the following admission requirements:

  1.  Academic requirements

  Your previous education needs to be deemed equivalent to at least a Dutch academic Bachelor’s degree (wetenschappelijk onderwijs, WO) obtained at a research university (nominal duration 3 years). Please find more information about your admissibility with a non-Dutch degree here. We do not require a GRE or GMAT test score.

  2. Programme specific requirements
  

  • A Bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Psychology, or Neuroscience with a minimum of 18 ECTS completed in Artificial Intelligence areas such as;
    • (Cognitive) Psychology
    • Computational Linguistics
    • Context of Artificial Intelligence: History, Philosophy, Ethics
    • Intelligent Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
    • Interaction: Human-Computer Interaction, Communication
    • Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
    • Machine Learning
    • Problem Solving: Search, Decision Making, Optimization

  If you do not have a Bachelor's degree in Artificial Intelligence or Computer Science, you are required to take a programming test. This Python test is developed for checking whether you have the right level of programming skills.  Once we have evaluated your application, we will inform you in your admission decision whether the requirement of this test applies to you. If so, you will have to pass this test as an additional admission condition. If needed, we recommend using this book as a reference point, and this (online) course.  

  In addition to the admission requirements above, the following selection criteria apply:

  • A high general academic level demonstrated by a minimum undergraduate GPA that is equivalent to a 7.0 in the Dutch grading system.  
  • A strong motivation and relevant knowledge, skills and competences demonstrated.  This can be demonstrated in your motivation letter and CV. Recommended elements of the motivation letter are: relevant AI Bachelor courses, relevant AI projects, the topic of your Bachelor project/thesis, your tentative MSc programme (track/electives), relevant internships, working experience, publications, etc. 

  Your motivation will be assessed on the following components:

  • Academic, professional, or practical experience in AI or related fields, such as; projects, internships, tools, programming languages, methods.
  • Clear motivation and goals for pursuing MSc in Artificial Intelligence.
  • Writing quality (structure, grammar, professional tone) and factual, specific details provided on achievements, methodologies etc.

  How to demonstrate that you meet the above requirements

  You are required to indicate how you meet the programme specific admission requirements in your Application Form. The Admission Board will evaluate your Application Form and decide if your academic background is sufficient to gain admission to the programme.

  3. English-language proficiency requirements

  You will have to demonstrate sufficient English language proficiency. You can find an overview of relevant information to demonstrate your English language proficiency on the language requirement page. 

• Application with an international degree

  Application documents

  To apply you are required to provide the following documents:

  • Scan of your passport or national ID card (ID for EEA students only) valid at the start date of the programme
  • Master Application File please download the correct file from this page. In this file you can see which documents are required to apply for your programme.
  • Proof of English language proficiency (if already obtained): upload your proof of English language proficiency or English language test results. Please find the English language requirements here.

  After having prepared the required documents, please follow the online application procedure. 

  Application fee & deadlines

  All students seeking admission to an international Master’s programme with an international degree are required to pay a non-refundable €100 application fee. Only after you have paid this fee will we be able to start the evaluation of your application file. If you are applying for more than one programme, you will only need to pay the application fee once. Your application fee payment is valid for two years.
  
  Information on how to apply with an international university degree and deadlines can be found here. 

  Grants and scholarships

  As an international student planning to study at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you can apply for a variety of grants and bursaries. Detailed information about scholarships and deadlines can be found on www.vu.nl/scholarships or www.grantfinder.nl.

  International Student and Alumni Ambassadors 

  Our International Student and Alumni Ambassadors are happy to tell you all about their experiences with studying at VU Amsterdam and living in Amsterdam.

  • Our Student Ambassadors are current students at VU Amsterdam that represent a wide variety of programmes and countries.
  • Our International Alumni Ambassadors are VU Amsterdam graduates who are currently either working in the Netherlands or abroad, or doing a PhD or (second) Master's.

  You will find the full overview of our Ambassadors here: vu.nl/ambassadors. There you can chat with them directly.

• Additional costs

  Master students Artificial Intelligence will have to spend approximately 200 euro per year for buying books. Students are expected to possess a laptop computer, running either Windows 10 or mac OSX, for participating in educational activities (which comes down to approx. 300 euro per academic year).