Introduction

The Netherlands is a country well known for several things such as good cheese, fries, tulips, windmills, and for its most iconic city Amsterdam. Although these are the most popular things from a tourist approach, the truth is that this country has much more to offer and discover. In this post, I will relate my experience as an MSc student (Marketing – Data Analytics).

Before telling my history, I would like to give some context about myself, my name is Francisco Riaño and I was born in Bogotá Colombia in 1995. I made my bachelor’s in business administration in my home city and then I worked for 3 years mainly in FMCG and consumer electronics industries before arriving in the Netherlands. I chose this country mainly for 3 reasons; first, I was lured by the master’s program of Marketing Analytics offered at Tilburg University; second, because is a country with a lot of good opportunities and good salaries as well; and third because since the beginning I knew that I was not going to have any problem regarding the language. It is precisely this third point that I would like to begin with.

Language

As a master’s student, you won’t have any inconvenience if you speak fluent English. Almost all the academic programs offered in the Netherlands are completely in English with some specific exceptions (Dutch law or similar programs); therefore, you do not even need Dutch if your goal is just to get a master´s or bachelor’s degree here in the Netherlands. Speaking about English requirements, almost all the universities will demand a B2 (under the common European framework of reference for languages) nevertheless given the level of exigency, for instance, to write the final thesis, I would recommend achieving a C1 before getting enrolled in any Dutch master’s program. Clearly, if your plans are to stay longer, after your studies, in the country, I highly recommend and encourage becoming fluent in Dutch.

Student associations

One of the things that has impressed me the most is the students’ associations. These are groups of students gathered with a specific common topic, there are associations related to the master’s program (marketing, finance, econometrics, etc.), but also there are other associations linked for instance with sports. I joined two of these teams throughout my life as a master’s student, the one for marketing and the one focused on swimming. What called my attention the most is that the student associations are completely managed and coordinated just by students so they are in charge of organizing parties and events with loads of alcohol (of course) but also, they have to ensure the correct administration of the group. The main activities carried out by student members of these groups are:
• Collect the joining fees.
• Administrate the webpage and different means of communication for the association.
• Select the board members.
• Organize all the logistics behind each event related to the association.

Finances as an international student

In general terms, studying in the Netherlands, as a non-EU citizen, is not cheap. First of all, it is important to talk about the tuition fees, these are relatively expensive especially if these are compared with the ones charged in Germany or even Switzerland but at the same time these prices are quite reasonable compared with the tuition fees required in universities from the U.S. or Australia. It is also important to consider that the tuition fee paid by an international student could be easily 7 times bigger than the one paid by a European citizen.
Another important issue to bear in mind is the accommodation cost. This probably is one of the most painful challenges even for local students. The Netherlands, like other many European countries, is facing a huge scarcity of houses nowadays, therefore the rent charged is very high and the space for these accommodations generally is quite reduced. Other expenses like groceries or leisure have to be borne in mind, although everything in Europe is relatively expensive, especially if you come from Latin America or any other developing region, these expenses could be managed and good and cheap options could be found to satisfy these needs.

Academic level

In general terms, the academic level in any Dutch university is very high but especially quite intense. My MSc program was divided into 4 blocks, each one of 8 weeks, the amount of information that I was usually used to studying in a semester, in the Netherlands takes just 2 months, so as you can imagine the rhythm sometimes was a bit fierce; therefore, time planning and organization is fundamental to success as a master student in a Dutch university. Although the amount of information could be sometimes quite overwhelming, the institutions offer students plenty of technological and academic tools and, comfortable facilities to face any academic challenge.
Throughout my life as a master’s student in the Netherlands, one of the biggest challenges was writing the thesis. The level of exigency is quite high not just regarding your English writing skills but also with the usage of high-quality research references and the way the thesis is structured to give a contribution based on a specific topic.
One of the things that have called my attention the most, regarding the university, is the way that it is integrated with companies, normally there is a huge gap between academia and the industry, however here in the Netherlands, that gap is not so big so therefore, is quite easy to get involved in events made by companies in the University facilities or even use information, provided by organizations, to learn from a more practical approach. In my case, I studied a master’s in science which has a huge theoretical compound but despite this, the methodology used in 80% of classes allowed us to learn also from a more empirical way, this was one of the elements that I enjoyed the most.

After studies

If you are not an EU citizen, one of the main benefits of an academic degree in the Netherlands is Orientation Year Visa (Zoekjaar Visa). This residence permit is given for 1 year, allowing you to look for a job in the Country. Other services usually offered by the universities in the Netherlands include professional coaching and networking events for those who want to stay in the country after their studies.

As a main conclusion, I have to say that my experience as an MSc student in the Netherlands was amazing and exciting but also challenging. This was one of the best decisions ever made, by me, because it allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and to expand my network to make it more international. Last but not least, I must say that I just didn’t get more knowledge and capabilities but also great experiences and valuable friends!