How medicine work or how novel drugs are discovered? What the underlying mechanisms are? Then join the exchange semester of Faculty of Medicine VU in which we will address all these questions.
The Faculty of Medicine's elective semester will give you insights in the translation of research into health care and back.
Start date: September
Duration: One semester
Language of instruction: English
Credits: 24/30 EC
The programme offers a number of different minors every year.
For 2025-2026 these are:
- Minor Amsterdam Global Health
- Minor Cancer-Immunity-Personalized therapies
- Minor Challenges in Women and Child Healthcare *
- Minor Comprehensive care and anatomy *
- Minor Global Health Indonesia *
- Minor Hot topics in neurology and psychiatry
- Minor Medical research to clinical practice | Study Guide
- Minor The Moving body
- Minor Medical research to clinical practice *
- CVR challenges: Pathological interactions between the cardiovascular and other organ systems
* = Challenges in Women & Child Healthcare, Comprehensive Care & Anatomy, Global Health Indonesia and Medical researcj tp clinical practice are only open to medical students of the Faculty of Medicine VU.
Please mind that in the last three minors some parts (e.g. patient presentations) will be taught in Dutch.
The minors of the elective/exchange semester focus on the deepening and broadening of medical scientific knowledge and the translational connection between research and clinic. The aim is to strengthen academic and scientific training within the clinical context. This means that you are better prepared for current developments in healthcare. In light of internationalisation and the reinforcement of academic training, the minors are taught in English.
The minors at the Faculty of Medicine VU start in September, last 16 weeks and comprise a total of 24 EC. The education is small-scale, consisting of interactive tutorials of +/- 25-48 students, study groups of approximately 12 students, practicals, working visits, etc. Each minor is multidisciplinary in design. You can complete your minor in January with a literature essay (6 EC) to make it 30 EC.