8 steps towards admission & registration

Make sure to inform yourself thoroughly about your study choice. If you would like to get more information about the LLB programme International and European Law, please check

• the LLB webpage

• one of the UG Open Days (3 times per year)

For Dutch students we would highly recommend to also read this page, since the English-taught LLB programme does not give access to the bar or judiciary (the so-called civiel effect).

If you are considering starting the English-taught LLB programme International and European Law at the University of Groningen, please check whether you are admissible to this programme. Of course, we understand that you possibly have not completed your pre-university education yet before the application deadline or before the matching activity.

Admissible are students who hold:

• A Dutch VWO diploma (any profile)

• no VWO diploma, but a fully completed HBO first year in International and European Law at The Hague University of Applied Science > also check Step 6
  Please be aware that any other fully completed first year certificates of universities of applied science are not admissible.

• no VWO diploma, but a fully completely first year from a Dutch research university

• foreign diplomas which are similar to the VWO diploma > also check Step 6

Please make sure to check our webpage for the specific programme admission requirements, especially with regard to the English proficency requirements.

If you are certain you are admissible with your (nearly) completed pre-university education, you can gain more in-depth knowledge of the programme. You can e.g. do so by participating in the web class International and European Law, which is offered twice per year.

Should you have questions about the programme that the programme pages do not provide for, please feel free to contact the Faculty's International Office.

Very important: apply before 1 May 2025!

The application procedure only starts for real when you apply for the programme in Studielink. Please make sure to apply for the programme before 1 May! This is a very strict deadline, which applies to most bachelor programmes in the Netherlands. After 1 May, your admission right to our programme expires. Students with an international pre-university degree will also have to upload their application documents in Progress Portal, our online application system. This also needs to be completed before 1 May. More information on how to complete these steps can be found here, more particularly under step 1 (Apply). Students with a Dutch diploma: please complete this application form.

A list of documents to be uploaded in Progress Portal is to be found on our programme pages.

Too late and you have applied after 1 May?

Then the Admissions Office cannot process your application any more and you are therefore not admissible to the first year of the LLB programme International and European Law for the academic year 2025/26.

There is a limitative number of situations in which application between 1 May and 1 August is permitted. In all these situations a deadline of 1 August applies:

• you receive a negative Binding Study Advice (BSA) for your current University of Groningen programme;

• you applied for a different bachelor's degree programme in Studielink before 1 May, but after joining the matching activity, you have changed your mind and prefer the LLB International and European Law.

If you are of the opinion that one of these two situations apply to you, please contact the Faculty a.s.a.p. by emailing to matching.llb rug.nl. Please indicate clearly to which of the two exceptions mentioned above apply to you, write a strong motivation and add the documentation to prove the situation.

Registered after 1 August?

Your application will not be taken into consideration, even if one of the exceptions mentioned above applies. This means you are not admissible from that point onwards for the LLB programme International and European Law for the academic year 2025/26.

Students holding a Dutch VWO diploma

Students holding a Dutch VWO diploma will have to apply in Studielink (and complete the matching > STEP 5) and should complete this application form in order to be admitted.
It is however important to check the difference in content between the Dutch-taught track 'Internationaal en Europees Recht' and the English-taught programme International and European Law, in order to make an informed decision regarding the programme chosen. More information is available here.

If you want to participate in the LLB programme International and European Law, it is compulsory to join in our matching activity. This applies to all students.

Matching was set up by the Dutch government to allow students to make an informed decision on the programme they wish to enter. In order to do so, programmes will offer an activity that paints a clear picture about the programme (the educational format, the amount of reading, the level of assessment, and (part of) the content of the programme). Considering the fact that most applicants for the LLB International and European Law are international and thus do not reside in the Netherlands, the Faculty has chosen to offer the matching activity online. This will be done by way of an online activity, consisting of four lectures, some reading and four online assessments; this online matching activity will offer four topics (European law, public international law, criminal law and technology law) and will take a maximum of 6 hours to complete.

The online matching class will be offered three times: once at the end of January (22 January - 29 January 2025), once at the end of March (19 - 26 March 2025) and once early June (28 May - 4 June 2025). The online matching activity will be available for one week; during this week, you can decide yourself at which day during that week you will participate in the online matching activity. Please make sure to have been admitted to the LLB programme at that time, since you need to enter the University of Groningen (UG) systems for which you need to have a (UG) student number.

There is no need to prepare anything in advance for the online matching activity; all necessary information to be able to complete your online matching activity will be available in the online matching activity. You will receive instructions on how to enter the online matching activity in the week leading up to the online matching class. Please do also check your spambox around that time, since the instruction email will be generated from our system and as such is sometimes categories as spam.

Please be aware that not participating in the online matching class will block your registration as a student in the LLB programme International and European Law for the academic year 2025/26.

Exemption compulsory matching

There are a few options to be exempt from participating in the compulsory matching activity. Such an exemption can only be secured prior to the last online matching activity. Therefore, the deadline is 15 May.

Exemptions can be applied for when:

• you have participated in the matching activity for the LLB International and European Law of the University of Groningen after September 2023
• you have participated in the regular web class for the LLB International and European Law after September 2023 (offered by the University of Groningen 'Scholierenacademie')
• you have been previously registered as a student of the LLB International and European Law of the University of Groningen

Please make sure to pay your tuition fee before 31 August! Also check if the matching advice has been registered properly. If you have not paid your fees in time, you cannot be registered as a student of the LLB programme International and European Law and your enrolments for both courses and exams become invalid.

If you have any questions about your application or registration as a student of the University of Groningen, your student card (and passport photograph) and about the payment of your tuition fee, please contact the University's Student Information and Administration (SIA). Your Faculty or programme cannot help you with these issues.

A new step-by-step, fully geared towards you starting the LLB programme, will be published by the end of June. This new step-by-step will include information about your time table for both classes and exams, ordering books and readers, the digital systems you will be using for your programme, programme information, wifi on campus, etcetera. You will then also receive more detailed information about the Faculty introduction and induction sessions (see STEP 8).

The Faculty organises a plenary introduction session for all students participating in the English-taught programmes on 27 August. In addition, induction sessions are offered for all separate working groups of the LLB programme, which will take place on 28 and 29 August. Participation in both the introduction and induction session is compulsory. Both sessions will provide you with a lot of important information, which will allow you to start your programme in a good manner.