Education system
The education system in the Netherlands is governed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and local governments. Education is compulsory in the Netherlands for all children from the age of 5 through 16 (although most attend school from the age of 4).
Primary education is attended from years 5 (or 4) through 12 which covers eight grades (or groeps) of schooling. After which there are a few different options available for secondary education; pre-vocational (VMBO) - 4 years, senior general (HAVO) - 5 years or pre-university (VWO) - 6 years. Which type of secondary education assigned to the pupil is determined by the final grade 8 examination results and the advice of the grade 8 teacher.
Following the completion of secondary education students then follow on to higher education at either a research university (universiteiten; WO) or a university of applied sciences / higher professional education institution (hogescholen; HBO). Three year Bachelor degree programmes can be undertaken at universities and four year vocational HBO bachelor programmes can be studied at higher professional education institutions. After which students can study a 1 or 2 year Masters programme at either type of institution.
In total there are 13 research universities in the Netherlands and around 70 higher education institutions.
