Admission and selection procedure
The IBEB programme is the international variant of our Dutch-taught Economie en Bedrijfseconomie. As such, it is not a numerus-fixus programme*. Instead of a ranking, which is applicable to numerus-fixus, the Selection Committee applies rolling admission; each application is reviewed individually, and applicants will receive feedback on their application within six weeks after submitting the application.
After your application has been received, it is first determined whether your secondary school diploma meets the requirements for admission to the IBEB programme, or if you have any deficiencies. Next, your application will be reviewed by the Selection Committee who will decide based on the selection criteria whether you are offered a place in the programme.
Our Programme Board aims for an international classroom with a good variety of different nationalities and educational backgrounds. To preserve the international character of the programme, the Selection Committee monitors the number, as well as the nationality and educational background of students who are offered a place in the IBEB programme during the entire application period. This may affect the importance of each selection criterion throughout the application period. See more information at ‘Selection criteria’.
Each year, approximately 400 students start in the IBEB programme.
Please note that information listed on this website refers to the application procedure for the study programme starting September 2025. Our admission requirements and selection criteria are evaluated on annual basis and therefore might differ per year.
Application
Submitting your application is possible from 1 November 2024 until 1 April / 1 May 2025. The 1 April deadline applies to students who apply with a non-EEA passport. The 1 May deadline applies to all other students.
The application procedure consists of several steps:
- Paying the handling fee
- Assembling application documents
- Registration in Studielink
- Submitting the application in the EUR Application Portal
Please note: only registering in Studielink before the application deadline is not a valid application. You will also need to pay the handling fee and submit your application documents in the EUR Application Portal before the deadline of 1 April/ 1 May. The application portal will close on the deadline date, so students who apply in Studielink after the application deadline will not be directed to the portal anymore and are therefore not able to complete their application to the programme.
Any documents or additional information presented after the application deadline, will not be considered. Make sure to have all required application documents available well in time.
Admission requirements
In the Netherlands, students holding a VWO secondary school diploma can enter a bachelor programme at a research university. Therefore, international students are eligible for the IBEB programme with a secondary school diploma equivalent to the Dutch VWO diploma.
Dutch VWO diploma
All VWO profiles are eligible (Nature & Science, Nature & Health, Economics & Society and Culture & Society). For students seeking admission based on a Dutch VWO diploma, the following requirements apply:
- Mathematics A or B required as final examination subject. Mathematics D only accepted in combination with Mathematics A or B.
- English required as final examination subject. Students who do not meet the English language requirement, are to submit a valid TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic or Cambridge B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency Certificate.
Dutch HBO propaedeutic diploma
Only the following HBO propaedeutic diplomas can give admission to the International Bachelor Economics and Business Economics:
- Accountancy, isat-code 34406
- Finance and Control (previously, Bedrijfseconomie), isat-code 34401
- Finance & Control, isat-code 35520
- Finance, Tax and Advice (previously, Fiscaal Recht & Economie), isat-code 35517
With an HBO propaedeutic diploma from one of the above-mentioned studies, you can apply if you meet the following additional requirements:
- Weighted GPA of 7.5 or up
- Meeting one of the following mathematics requirements:
- OMPT A certificate >75%
- OMPT B certificate >65%
- VWO deel-certificaat (Staatsexamen) Wiskunde A >7.5
- VWO deel-certificaat (Staatsexamen) Wiskunde B >6.5
- Boswell- Bèta certifcaat Wiskunde A >7.5
- Boswell- Bèta certifcaat Wiskunde B >6.5
- CCVX certificaat Wiskunde A >7.5
- CCVX certificaat Wiskunde B >6.5
This mathematics result should be available prior to 1 May as the mathematics score is a crucial part of the admission and selection procedure.
- Result of 7.0 or up for English language as a course in your propaedeutic diploma. If your propaedeutic curriculum does not contain English language as a course, you are obliged to take an English proficiency test, unless your programme is completely taught in English. For the certificates we accept and their respective minimum scores, see the section English language requirement (below).
International Baccalaureate Diploma
For students seeking admission based on the IB diploma the following minimum requirements apply:
- English A HL (4), English A SL (5), English B HL (5)
- Mathematics: Analysis & Approaches HL minimum grade 4, Analysis & Approaches SL minimum grade 5, or Applications & Interpretation HL minimum grade 5. Students who study Applications & Interpretation SL with minimum grade 6, can prove their mathematical proficiency by participating in the mathematics entrance exam. Students with a lower grade are not eligible for admission
- Minimum requirement of 30 points (TOK, EE and CAS excluded)
European Baccalaureate Diploma
For students seeking admission based on the EB diploma the following minimum requirements apply:
- Minimum of 3hrs English per week (language 1 or 2)
- Minimum of 3hrs mathematics per week (scores to be at least 75% on scale 1-100), 5hrs of mathematics is recommended (scores to be at least 65% on scale 1-100)
Other type of secondary school diploma
If you would like to know if your diploma grants admission to the IBEB programme, our admissions team has compiled a list of the most common foreign/international diplomas* (pdf) that meet the minimum general admission level for applying to a Research University such as Erasmus University Rotterdam. Please note that possible additional entry requirements apply in terms of English language or mathematics depending on the course curriculum within your diploma programme, regardless of the equivalence to a Dutch VWO diploma.
* No rights may be derived from this publication. The admissions team ultimately decides if the level and content of your secondary school education is sufficient and comparable to the Dutch secondary school system.
English language requirement
Applicants must show proficiency in the English language as all communication within the programme is in English. All applicants must demonstrate this by means of a TOEFL iBT, IELTS Academic, or Cambridge B2 First, C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency Certificate, not older than 2 years on the day of application to Erasmus School of Economics. We accept the online tests of TOEFL IBT Home Edition and academic IELTS Online.
The respective scores should be at least:
| Bachelor | |
|---|---|
| TOEFL iBT | 80 |
| IELTS Academic | 6.0 |
| Cambridge B2 First (formerly: FCE) | 170 |
| Cambridge C1 Advanced (formerly: CAE) | 170 |
| Cambridge C2 Proficiency (formerly: CPE) | 180 |
No specific subscores required.
Exemptions
You are exempted from an English test if:
- English language was (or will be) part of your final examinations in one of the following diplomas, on which admission is based:
- VWO, obtained in the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, or Suriname
- American High School Diploma (at least 2,5 years)
- Austrian Reifeprüfungszeugnis
- Belgian ASO (in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium)
- Danish Studentereksamen
- Dutch four-year HBO diploma (including the course English language or when study programme was fully taught in English)
- Estonian Gugümnaasiumi lõputunnistuse
- European Baccalaureate (language 1 or 2; three hours per week minimum)
- Finnish Ylioppilastuskintotodistus
- French Baccalaureate General – Option International (British / American section) / Baccalaureat Francais International
- German Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife
Please note: taking the final examination is not required when English language is part of your curriculum up and until the final year, with a minimum score of 10 - GCSE English Language (English as second language not accepted)
- GCE A(S)-level English language
- Hungarian Matura Gimnáziumi Érrettségi bizonyitvány (advanced level)
- International Baccalaureate - English B HL 5 / A SL 5 / A HL 4.
- Latvian Atestāts par vispārējo vidējo izglītību
- Lithuanian Brandos Atestata
- Luxembourg Diploma de Fin d’Etudes Secondaires
- Norwegian Vitnemål
- Romanian Diploma de Bacalaureat
- Swedish Slutbetyg
- Swiss Maturität (German speaking part of Switzerland)
- You have obtained your diploma in one of the following countries:
- Australia
- Canada (with the exception of Quebec)
- New Zealand
- Ireland
- South-Africa
- United Kingdom (with the exception of Commonwealth countries and territories)
- United States of America
- English was your primary language during your secondary school education for at least 2,5 years in one of the following countries (and you have proof of this):
- Australia
- Canada (with the exception of Quebec)
- New Zealand
- Ireland
- South-Africa
- UK (with the exception of Commonwealth countries and territories)
- USA
Note: the Examination Board makes the final decision on granting you an exemption from an English language test.
Mathematics requirement
The minimum required level of mathematics of each applicant must be comparable to the Dutch pre-university diploma (VWO) Mathematics A or B with a more than sufficient grade. A good grasp of mathematics is crucial when it comes to studying economics. If the level of your mathematics course within your secondary school curriculum is not considered equivalent to Mathematics A on VWO level, but you do perform well in your national mathematics high school curriculum, you are to demonstrate your mathematics proficiency via an entrance exam.
You may find information listed on the list of the most common foreign/international diplomas* or you will receive an instruction after your application is reviewed.
The purpose of the entrance exam is to measure whether your secondary school education in mathematics is sufficient for entering the IBEB programme. The entrance exam is not applicable to students who scored low in mathematics during their secondary school curriculum but would like to take the exam as a chance to prove themselves. The mathematics entrance exam is also not applicable to students who have not studied mathematics in their final year.
There are multiple mathematics entrance exams which we accept:
- OMPT (Online Mathematics Placement Test) types A and B.
- VWO deel-certificaat (Staatsexamen) Wiskunde A + B
- Boswell- Bèta certifcaat Wiskunde A + B
- CCVX Wiskunde A + B
For most applicants OMPT is most convenient since it is an online exam which can be taken anywhere in the world at any time of day.
Please note that Erasmus School of Economics does not accept re-sits. Only the first attempt will be accepted.
Selection criteria
When you meet the admission requirements, your documents will be reviewed by the Selection Committee to determine whether you are offered a place in the IBEB programme.
The Committee uses four criteria for making a selection decision:
- Your performance during your secondary school curriculum and - if applicable - the result in our mathematics entrance exam or your propaedeutic curriculum. For students who apply while studying in their final year of secondary school this means: your performance during the academic year 2023-2024, results obtained so far in the academic year 2024-2025 (this year) and the grades which are predicted to be your final diploma grades in summer 2025.
The Selection Committee will only review all information which is presented prior to the application deadline. Results obtained after the 1st of May, such as final exam scores, will not be taken into account when making the selection decision. Final grades will only be taken into account for students who have already obtained their diploma at the moment of application. The Selection Committee will review the results of all courses, but with a particular focus on mathematics and English, as these two courses have proved to be the most important for studying in our study programme.
- Your motivation to study IBEB at Erasmus School of Economics, expressed by answering the three questions in the application portal.
- Your curriculum vitae, showing international background/experience and extracurricular activities. Examples of international experience include studying abroad, studying at an international school, attending summer schools abroad, international voluntary work, etcetera.
- As explained above; to preserve the international character of the programme, the Programme Board has decided that the student population in the IBEB programme must consist of at least 50% international students representing a variety of (educational) backgrounds as we believe this will contribute to a true international environment. This may affect the importance of each selection criterion during the application period.
Do you have a question?
Find the answer about application and admission in our knowledge base. Please be informed that we do not communicate with third parties (such as parents) when the applicant is 18+.
*Erasmus School of Economics strives to develop and implement a numerus fixus for the IBEB programme 2026-2027. More detailed information will be available by April, once our University Council has made a decision on our numerus fixus proposal. For the intake 2025-2026, the information currently listed on our website is applicable.