Academic & Career Guide

The rules on this page decide whether you can stay in the programme, keep your visa, or graduate a year earlier. Most of them come with hard deadlines, and "I did not know" does not work as an argument. Dates below follow the 2025-2026 pattern; the exact days shift slightly each year, so always check the linked VU pages and the Canvas announcements.

BSA: the first-year hurdle

The binding study advice (BSA) requires 42 EC of first-year courses by the end of your first year (31 August). Get there and you are done with the BSA forever; there is no minimum to continue after year 1 apart from this.

A negative BSA is serious: you cannot enrol in BSc AI or BSc CS at VU for the next three academic years. Both programmes, not just yours.

The escape routes, in calendar order:

When	What
Late January	Interim BSA letter with your current standing
Before 1 February	Deregister via Studielink and no BSA is issued at all; you can restart in September
Before 1 June	Personal circumstances must already be reported to the academic advisors
1 to 19 June, before 09:00	Window to request BSA deferment (earlier requests are not processed)
Around 30 July	Proposed final BSA decision
7 August, before 09:00	Deadline to object to a proposed negative decision; you are then invited to a hearing
18 or 19 August	Hearing, on campus, physical presence mandatory
21 August	Final decision

Deferment gives you a second year to reach the 42 EC (for example: 30 EC in year 1, then at least 12 EC of first-year courses in year 2). It exists for exceptional personal circumstances and health problems, decided by the BSA committee, not the advisors. You need evidence (medical statements in Dutch or English) and a demonstrated link between the circumstances and the missing credits. Housing stress and money problems do not count as valid grounds, a second deferment is close to impossible, and you cannot use the same argument twice. Report circumstances to the advisors as soon as they happen, not in June.

All forms and the deferment button: VU BSA page (scroll to the BETA section).

Non-EU students: the MOMI progress rule

All non-EU/EEA students must earn at least 30 EC per academic year (measured before 23 August) to keep their residence permit. Under 60 EC left in your programme? Then the bar is 50% of what remains. Only your thesis left? You can ask for an extension until November.

Expect to miss the 30 EC because of circumstances? Apply for a MOMI exception before 1 July via this form, and talk to the academic advisors early. Info: visa information for current students.

One course away from graduating? The extra August exam

If exactly one course stands between you and your diploma (the thesis counts as a course), you can request one additional exam opportunity in August:

• Apply between 1 and 15 July, 23:59 hard deadline, even if grades are still pending
• The course must be from the Faculty of Science
• The written exam takes place around 20 August on campus
• Everything else, thesis included, must be completed before 31 August

Details: additional exam opportunity (under BETA).

Two exams at the same time

Overlapping exams happen, usually between a minor course and a resit. There is a procedure:

• Email the academic advisors at least 3 weeks before the exams, with your student number and both courses' codes, dates, times and locations
• Both courses must be taught within the Faculty of Science and belong to your own programme (approved minor and elective courses count)
• You are not helped if one course is extracurricular, belongs to a second degree, or if you are enrolled in more than 18 EC that period
• The usual fix: one exam, a 15-minute supervised break in the same room, then the other. You confirm the arrangement at least 5 working days ahead.
• No guarantee. Worst case you take one of the two in the resit period, and hardship cases go to the examination board.

The yearly admin checklist (August/September)

• Re-enrol via Studielink before 1 September. Forgetting this one locks you out of everything else.
• Register for period 1 courses in the registration module; it opens late July and closes about a week into September. Your minor courses count too, and you must be re-enrolled first.
• Finishing your thesis over summer? Grades submitted on OnStage after 31 July can delay graduation; 31 August is the hard end of the academic year.
• The study guide gets its new-year courses, schedules and regulations around this time. When in doubt about any rule, the Teaching and Examination Regulations (TER) in the study guide are the binding text.