Electives Faculty of Science

Overview electives

• Electives within the science programme

  You can follow electives within your own study programme. Check the full overview of electives of your programme via study guide. In the study guide you will also find possible entry requirements per subject. You do not need permission of the Examination Board for following electives within your own study programme. However, do check the requirements for the elective space.

• Within the Science Faculty

  You can follow electives outside your own study programme, but within the same faculty. Check the study guide for an overview of possible subjects and descriptions. 

  You need permission from the Examination Board for electives within your own faculty that are not mentioned in the TER. Make sure  the requirements with regards to the elective space are met. 

• At another VU Amsterdam Faculty

  If you want to follow courses at another faculty within VU Amsterdam, check the study guide for an overview of possible subjects and descriptions. 

  You need permission from the Examination Board in advance if you want to choose electives at another faculty within VU Amsterdam. Also, always check the requirements to be met with regards to the elective space. 

• At another university

  Check with the relevant university whether you can participate in the desired elective course and ask that university how to register.  Request prior approval from the Examination Board of the Faculty of Science to be allowed to use the course in your elective space. Check the requirements to be met with regards to the elective space.

  Register at the other university as a guest student (via Study guide). For this you need a Proof of Payment of Tuition Fee from VU Amsterdam.

  • When you have passed the course, submit your certified list of grades via Submit externally obtained result. This assessment contains your name, the course code of the component, the assessment and the number of credits.
  • Also provide an English translation of the name of the course for the English diploma supplement.

  Ask the Examination Board of the Faculty of Science in advance to be allowed to use the courses in your elective space and check the requirements. 

• Put together a package of electives yourself

  You can put together a package of electives within your own field of study, another field within VU Amsterdam, or at a different university at home or abroad (exchange). Take into account the levels of the courses you select and make sure that there is no overlap between the courses you have already taken or are yet to take. If you put together a package yourself, you must always request approval from the Examination Board in advance . 

  Extracurricular courses 

  Extracurricular courses are not part of your degree programme and thus do not count towards the 180 EC of the Bachelor or the 60 or 120 EC of the Master. As of 1 September 2019, the following rules apply to students of the Faculty of Science:

  • Extracurricular courses completed within the VU will be automatically listed as “extracurricular courses" on the diploma supplement. Permission of the Examination Board is not required in this case.
  • If you wish extracurricular courses, completed within and/or outside the VU, to be part of your programme, you need to submit a request for permission to the Examination Board of your programme.
  • Extracurricular courses completed outside the VU (which are not part of the 180 EC for the Bachelor or the 60 or 120 EC for the Master) will not be listed as "extracurricular courses" on the diploma supplement.

  In this case you can’t request the permission from the Examination Board. If you have uploaded a certified transcript the external results will be not processed by the Education Office.

  • Extracurricular courses completed outside the VU that you wish to include in your bachelor or master program (and thus count towards the 180 resp. 60 or 120 EC) will only be processed by the Education Office and mentioned on the diploma supplement if you have received approval from the Examination Board. You can apply for approval by submitting the form in VU.nl. If you have received approval please upload the certified transcript in VU.nl.