 Admission Checklist

This checklist contains very important information about the completion of your admission and registration.
Click the links for more information!

Complete the following steps before the applicable deadlines

Click here to go directly to the deadline overview


 Complete your admission  Complete your registration

 Accept your offer  Arrange your visa/residence permit
application with the ISD
 Meet your conditions  Candidates with the Chinese
nationality
 Provide certified documents  Arrange your tuition fee payment
 Certified copies - requirements with the CSA

 Matching procedure
 Complete the Matching activities (see applicable faculties)

Special information for candidates with

 GCE A-levels, French Baccalauréat, Italian Maturità and Spanish Bachiller
 International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma
 Chinese qualifications

Practical information

 Studielink  General information

 Accommodation  Contact details Information Services
 IT facilities and University (student) card

Practical templates
 Graduation statement

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Complete your admission
 Accept your offer
To accept a place in the programme to which you have been (conditionally or provisionally) admitted
you must return a signed copy of the Confirmation of Participation form by email as soon as possible.
This form can be found on the penultimate page of your decision letter. Please note that there are no
further consequences for your admission, should you wish to withdraw your application at a later
stage after having accepted our offer.

 Meet your conditions

The conditions of your admission are outlined in the decision letter that you received from your
Admissions Officer by email. You must fulfil the conditions of your admission before the deadline
stated in your decision letter. It is not possible to start your degree programme without first having
provided proof of having met the conditions of admission.
Non-EU/EEA candidates: a different procedure applies due to the visa/residence permit application
procedure. Carefully read the information under Complete your registration – Arrange your
visa/residence permit application with the ISD.

 Provide certified documents

Your decision letter lists the certified documents that the Admissions Office will need to receive. Dutch
law requires that your file contains certified copies of the qualification(s) on the basis of which you
have been admitted. Without these documents the Admissions Office is not allowed to issue your
decree (official legal admission statement). Without a decree, your admission cannot be finalized
and that your registration cannot be completed. In other words, you will then not be able to start
your studies at the University of Groningen.
The required documents will need to be sent to the address stated on your address label, which can be
found on the last page of your decision letter.

Certified copies – definition and requirements

A certified copy is a photocopy of the original document; this photocopy has been stamped, signed and dated by an
authorized institution/individual (preferably a school official or notary). By certifying a photocopy like this, the signing party
declares that the information on the photocopy is correct and/or corresponds to the information on the original document.

Essential features certified copy Not acceptable

 Photocopy of original (diploma) document  Regular uncertified photocopy of the original
 Bearing an original (wet) stamp, signature and date  Insufficiently certified copy (no signature/stamp/date)
 Certified by authorized party  Photocopy of the original certified photocopy (copy of a copy)
 Sent by post  Digital scan of certified copy sent by email

Should any of your documents be incorrectly or insufficiently certified, the Admissions Office reserves the right to not accept
them and to request new, adequately certified copies. Sending us incorrectly/insufficiently certified documents may
therefore negatively impact the timely completion of the admissions procedure.

If your decision letter states that you need to provide both certified copies of original documents and sworn translations,
please note that the copies of the originals must (also) be certified by an authorized institution/individual and cannot only be
certified by the (sworn) translator.

If you have any doubts about the certification of your documents, please contact us before sending them.

! Non-essential documents sent by post: In line with the University's privacy regulations, we do not file documents that are not used for
admission purposes. Please only send us the documents requested by us, as the Admissions Office will destroy irrelevant documents (with the
exception of original diploma documents).

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Special information for candidates with
 GCE A-levels, French Baccalauréat, Italian Maturità and Spanish Bachiller
If you cannot obtain the required certified diploma documents before the start of the academic year,
because your official diploma documents are issued later, we will first need to receive a certified
graduation statement by post from your school/institution. Click here for a sample statement that you
can have your school fill out.
GCE A-levels: We do not accept a UCAS/exam board print-out as a graduation statement.

Your graduation statement must include the following details:

o Your full name and date of birth;
o The official name of the qualification you have obtained;
o The final exam courses and grades;
o Your date of graduation;
o Original stamp and signature of the school/institute;
o If applicable: the name of the examination board(s).

Your enrolment will then be completed on the basis of this certified graduation statement; however,
your admission will remain provisional until we have received certified copies of your final diploma
document(s).

Should you not provide us with the requested certified copies of your final diploma documents as soon
as they are available to you then we will inform the Faculty and they will decide on the consequences
for your enrolment.

 International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma

Please have your IB school authorize the University of Groningen (institution code 000603) as soon as
possible to access your final IB results in the IBO online database. This will allow us to verify your
results online, which, in turn, means that you will not have to send in certified copies of your diploma
documents by post.

 Chinese qualifications
The university has a partnership with CHESICC (China Higher Education Student Information and
Career Center) and DUO, the national agency for higher education in the Netherlands, to digitally
receive verified transcripts and qualification certificates from Chinese schools. The CHESICC validation
acts as an official proof of your graduation documents. You can request these reports here. You
require your University of Groningen student number to start the procedure.

Bachelor’s applicants need to have the following documents verified via CHESICC:
o Verification Report of China Secondary Education Qualification Certificate (中等教育学历验证报告)
o Verification Report of China Secondary Education Student Academic Transcript (中学成绩单验证报告)
o Verification Report of China National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) (高考成绩单验证报告)

If you require assistance, please contact the CHESSIC helpdesk by telephone or email:
+ 8610-62166727/+ 8610-62166772/+ 8610-61139123 or info@chsi.com.cn.

Should it not be possible to have all required documents verified through CHESICC, you will then still
need to send certified copies of these documents to us by post.

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Complete your registration
The Admissions Office handles the application and admission procedures, however to become fully
enrolled you will also need to complete important procedures that are handled by other departments
within the Information Services department as well as, for specific Faculties, a mandatory Matching
procedure.
Responsible department:
Immigration Service Desk (ISD)
VISA AND/OR RESIDENCE PERMIT APPLICATION

 Arrange your visa/residence permit application with the ISD

If you have a non-EU/EEA nationality, you will need a visa and/or residence permit if you plan to stay
in the Netherlands for a period longer than three months. For more general information, please click
here.

If applicable, the ISD will apply for this document/these documents on your behalf and they will
contact you about the procedure in due time.

! Do not apply for a visa/residence permit for the purpose of study yourself!

Please note that the visa/residence permit procedures can only be started by the ISD once you have
fulfilled all the conditions of your admission.

If you cannot meet the conditions of your admission before 1 June 2020 – e.g. because your final
results are issued after this date – you will need to follow the steps in the ‘Visa/Residence Permit
Checklist’ that you received with your decision letter. Complete the steps before the deadlines to
ensure your registration is completed successfully.

If the above-mentioned applies to you but you have not received the checklist(s) referred to above,
please contact your Admissions Officer as soon as possible.

 Candidates with the Chinese nationality

Before coming to Groningen, candidates with the Chinese nationality are also required to obtain a
certificate from Nuffic. Please click here for more information.
Responsible department:
Central Student Administration (CSA)
TUITION FEES

 Arrange your tuition fee payment with the CSA

The Admissions Office cannot help you with any questions about tuition fees. For information on
(current) tuition fees, please click here. If you have any specific questions about tuition fees, please
contact the CSA.

As from June 2020 onwards, you will be informed when and how you need to pay your tuition fees
through Studielink. On our website you can already find detailed information about your payment
options.

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 Responsible department:
Faculties
MATCHING

‘Matching’ is a way for the student to find out whether their programme of choice matches with what
they want and want to do in the future. For general information on matching, click here.

A number of the faculties of the University of Groningen has made matching a compulsory element of
the application and admission procedures for both Dutch and international students. This means that
if you do not complete the matching activities (before the deadline), your application will be
withdrawn and you will not be able to start your studies.
The deadlines for meeting the matching requirement can differ per faculty, therefore make sure to
check the details for your respective faculty.

The following faculties apply compulsory matching:

- The Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences* - The Faculty of Law
- The Faculty of Science and Engineering* - The Faculty of Philosophy
- The Faculty of Medical Sciences*

*The matching requirement does not apply to Numerus Fixus (fixed quota) programmes.

Matching is optional for the remaining faculties:

Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Faculty of Spatial Sciences and the Faculty of
Economics and Business.

Matching is organized by the faculties, therefore please contact your faculty if you have any questions
relating to matching. Click the link at the top of this page for the contact details of each faculty.

 Studielink
We receive your personal details from Studielink. As such, if you need or want to change any of these
details, such as your email address or home address, you will need to change them yourself in
Studielink. These changes will then be implemented automatically in our systems. For questions about
your Studielink account, please contact the CSA.

 IT facilities and University (student) card

After you submitted your application in Studielink you will have received your student number by
email. With your student number you can activate your student account through the university’s DIY
website. Please note that you will be given preliminary access; if your enrolment with the university is
not finalized, your account will be blocked.

Once you have uploaded a photo you can pick up your University student card at the CSA desk
approximately two weeks after your enrolment with the university has been finalized.

Please contact the CSA if you have any questions about your student account or your University card.

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Practical information
 Accommodation
Like most Dutch universities, the University of Groningen does not have a campus. Therefore,
arranging accommodation is the applicant’s own responsibility.

One of the organizations international students are referred to is the SSH (Stichting Studenten
Huisvesting: Organization for Student Accommodation). More information on SSH and how to register
for SSH housing can be found on the SSH website.

When filling out the registration form, please select the following options under ‘Institution’ to ensure
your housing application is directed to our Admissions Office for approval:
City - Groningen
(Educational) Institution - University of Groningen (RUG)
Department/Faculty - RUG Admissions Office Bachelor/Master (1st option in the dropdown menu)
Type of resident - RUG Bachelor/Master

If you have any questions in regards to SSH housing, please contact SSH at groningen@sshxl.nl.

You can only reserve accommodation through SSH once you are (conditionally) admitted to the
programme you have applied for. Do note that reserving housing for the set 10/12-month rental
period while you still have to fulfil your conditions of admission is your own responsibility.
Reserving housing for September 2020 will be possible from spring 2020 onwards.

Other housing options

For more information on alternative options for finding accommodation or when SSH is fully booked,
please visit our website or the At Home in Groningen website. You can also email housing@rug.nl for
general housing inquiries.

 General information
General information for international candidates can be found on our website, as well as information
for Admitted students.

Please click the links below for more information:

o Welcoming ceremony o Travelling to Groningen

o Health insurance o Academic advisors
o Liability insurance (AON website) o Study curriculum
o International Alumni Ambassadors o Webinars
o Social media

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 

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 Contact details Information Services

Information Services assists applicants, students and staff members with questions about registration,
tuition fees, scholarships and immigration. Information Services consists of the Central Student
Administration (CSA), Immigration Service Desk (ISD), Mobility and Scholarship Desk (MSD) and the
Admissions Office. Please refer to the Information Services website for the contact details of these
departments. You can find our contact details here:

Admissions Office Postal address:

Telephone: +31 (0)50 363 8004 University of Groningen
Contact form Admissions Office
Opening hours: 10:00 – 12:00 / 14:00 – 16:00 Broerstraat 5
9712 CP Groningen
The Netherlands

Should you wish to visit us or one of the other Information Services departments, please note that you
will have to schedule an appointment beforehand.

 Authorization form
Due to privacy regulations we are not allowed to communicate with unauthorized third parties about
applications of applicants who are 18 years old or older.

If you are 18 years old or older and you wish for someone else (e.g. one of your parents or a school
counsellor) to communicate with the Admissions Office on your behalf, you can arrange this by filling
out and submitting the completed and signed authorization form through our online form.

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 October – Beginning of October 2019:
Studielink opens for new applications.
November – Apply in Studielink and then complete & submit your application in our
Online Application System (OAS).
December –

January –

February –

March – 1 May 2020:

Deadline to complete and submit your Studielink and your OAS
April –
application.
May –

1 June 2020:
Non-EU/EEA applicants: Deadline to meet your conditions of admission.
If you cannot meet your conditions of admission before 1 June 2020, you
will need to complete the steps in your Visa/Residence Permit Checklist.

June –

July –

20 August 2020:
August – EU/EEA applicants: Deadline to send us your certified diploma
documents by post
(see decision letter)

31 August 2020:
Final deadline to arrange your tuition fee payment

September –

1 September 2020 - Start of the academic year

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 Graduation Statement
Applicant’s personal information
First name*
Last name*
Date of birth
Student number University of Groningen
* As indicated on passport

Secondary education
Herewith it is certified that the applicant was enrolled at:
Name of the school/institution

The applicant has obtained the following qualification(s) on the following date:
Official name of diploma in original language
Graduation date*
Expected issue date final diploma/certificate(s)
If applicable, Examination Board(s)
* Please note that the graduation date should be before 1 September 2020

Applicant has obtained the following results in the following subjects:

Subject/course (if applicable, incl. Final result Subject/course (if applicable, Final result
level) incl. level)

If applicable, final GPA/average final grade:

If applicable, total amount of credits obtained:

The aforementioned is stated by:

Name school representative
Date
Signature school representative ↓ School stamp ↓

This document should be sent to the UG in hard copy, bearing an original stamp and signature
UG – Admissions Office – Broerstraat 5 – 9712 CP – Groningen – The Netherlands
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