Quality & accreditation

Quality: HZ in top of the Netherlands for years

HZ is assessed for quality by various organisations every year. The Keuzegids hbo 2024 shows that HZ occupies a second place in the top 3 of 'best medium-sized universities of applied sciences'. The HZ moved up one place in the ranking compared to last year and has a nice institution score of 74 points. As many as half of the assessed HZ study programmes - 17 out of 34 - were rated as 'top study programmes'. In addition, ten programmes are the best in the Netherlands. See also www.keuzegids.nl for more information.

Keuzegids rankings

The Keuzegids is the only independent guide, published yearly by the Centrum Hoger Onderwijs Informatie (Higher Education Information Centre). One of the five published reports, ‘HBO full-time studies’ (HBO Voltijd), critically assesses and compares the quality of study programmes of higher professional universities in the Netherlands.
Results take into account the perspectives of both students and the universities themselves. Rankings are generally based on data about the programme’s success rates, expert opinions from the accreditation of programmes, and student opinions taken from the results of the NSE.

HZ in the rankings

Since 2011 HZ has constantly been in the top three of Dutch universities of applied sciences, with several programmes on number 1 and in the top 3.

Accreditation

HZ is a government-funded University of Applied Sciences (HBO). To obtain government funding in the Netherlands, institutes must continually meet a number of quality requirements. The quality of the departments and programmes is regularly evaluated by acknowledged VBI’s (Visiting Assessment Organisations) of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
The Bachelor programmes, including the English-language programmes, taught at HZ have been accredited by the NVAO (Netherlands-Flemish Accreditation Organisation) based on international agreements.

Quality agreements

To improve the quality of higher education, HZ has drawn up a Quality Plan as part of the Quality Agreements.