21+ Admission test

If you do not have the right previous education for a Bachelor's degree programme at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, and you are 21 or older on your programme's start date, we can offer you a 21+ admission test.

student at STIP desk

Please note

This 21+ admission test has been especially developed for HU. 21+ admission tests from other institutions or other comparable tests are not valid at HU.

Please note

Note that a positive result on the 21+ admission test does not guarantee your admission to the programme. You also need to fulfil the other admission requirements .

You can take the 21+ admission test in English for our English-language Bachelor degree programmes:

  • Creative Business
  • International Business
  • Teacher Education in English
  • Teacher Education in German
  • Teacher Education in French
  • Teacher Education in Spanish

For our Dutch-language programmes, there is a 21+ admission test in Dutch .

How does it work?

We use a Higher-Level Multicultural Capacity Test (MCT) to determine whether your knowledge and skills are of a sufficient level to complete a degree programme at our university. Your results are compared to those of a reference group. This means you don't have to achieve a perfect score for a positive result.

The Multicultural Capacity Test takes about 75 minutes to complete and consists of six components (sub-tests):

  • Word relations: the extent to which a student knows the meaning of English words (vocabulary); the ability to understand relations between words.
  • Word analogies: the ability to reason verbally; the ability to discover a coherence between a number of verbal concepts.
  • Numerical skills: the ability to deal with numbers and level of insight into mathematical relations.
  • Number sequences: numerical reasoning skills; the ability to discover and recognise systems in symbolic, numerical matter.
  • Exclusion: logical reasoning; recognising class principles, the ability to make visual comparisons, to discover deviations and observe relevant details in figures.
  • Components: this sub-test is mainly about the mental manipulation and transformation of (two-dimensional) shapes or figures. You have to be able to visualise how the shapes are affected by certain actions.

A couple of examples of the capacity test components are below:

HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht does not offer any preparatory courses for the deficiency tests.

Additional testing

Some degree programmes of HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht are subject to a specific subject or profile requirement. This means such degree programmes demand a certain level of knowledge of a specific subject. Your knowledge of this subject is, therefore, tested as part of the 21+ admission test. In that case, you will have to take a deficiency test of the relevant subject in addition the MCT-H test.

The level of the deficiency tests is similar to the final examination for senior general secondary education. You can download the overview of required deficiency tests below.

Please note: HU does not offer preparatory courses for any of the tests.

An exemption for the additional/deficiency test

Do you have a relevant Dutch havo or vwo certificate? This may grant you an exemption from additional testing. Send a copy of your certificate to toelatingsonderzoek@hu.nl , quoting '21+ admission test', your name and Student-ID.

How to apply for the 21+ admission test

You can only take part in the 21+ admission test once your application is complete. A full application consists of two steps. First, you apply for a study programme via Studielink. After you've done this, you can register for the relevant test date. Read our General Terms and Conditions beforehand. You automatically agree with these general terms and conditions when you complete your payment.

  • Go to Studielink and log in with your DigiD. If you don’t have a DigiD yet, apply for one on www.digid.nl ;
  • Select the degree programme you wish to follow and select your preferred start date.

Once you have completed this step, you can continue with step 2.

After completing step 1, you can submit an application for the 21+ admission test. You can register for a test opportunity for the 21+ admission test through Osiris Application. You’ll receive an email with further instructions on the email address which you registered in Studielink. Please make sure this email address is correct.

To register for the 21+ admission test, you must complete a digital questionnaire first. After completing the questionnaire you will receive information about payment. Participation in the 21+ admission test costs € 125. Your registration is only complete when you have completed the questionnaire and payment.

If you didn’t receive an email or have any other questions, please contact toelatingsonderzoek@hu.nl .

Dates 21+ admission test Application start date Application deadline
Monday 10 October 2022
Thursday 8 September 2022 Wednesday 28 September 2022
Monday 14 November 2022 Thursday 8 September 2022 Wednesday 2 November 2022
Monday 9 January 2023 Thursday 29 September 2022
Wednesday 14 December 2022
Monday 6 March 2023 Thursday 3 November 2022
Wednesday 22 February 2023
Monday 8 May 2023 Thursday 15 December 2022
Tuesday 25 April 2023
Monday 5 June 2023 Thursday 23 February 2023
Wednesday 24 May 2023
Monday 3 July 2023 Thursday 23 February 2023
Wednesday 21 June 2023
Monday 7 August 2023 Thursday 23 February 2023
Wednesday 26 July 2023

The results of your 21+ admission test

Within six working days after finishing your tests, you will receive an email from our testing partner NOA with your results. The report shows how you did, as well as the minimum requirements for admission to a degree programme at HU. Based on that, it explains whether you passed or failed the admission test. We only receive the final assessment, not the full report.

The result of the 21+ admission test is valid for up to two years and one month after you've taken the test. This means that if you take the test in August, the result can be used to apply for a study programme in September of that same year.

Please note : If you‘ve applied for our Teacher Education in English, German or French programmes, you‘ll receive an invitation for additional testing only after you‘ve passed the MCT-H.

In case you didn't pass the 21+ admission test, you can not start your study at the HU. You can try again by applying for another test date. You will have to pay again if you do.

However, we do stress that resitting a capacity test is of no use, normally. This test assesses your general level of capacity, for which you cannot prepare. Therefore, the result of a resit will typically be similar to the result of your first test.

Do you have questions?

If you have any questions about the 21+ admission test, send an e-mail, quoting your name and student number to toelatingsonderzoek@hu.nl. Don’t forget to mention your preferred degree programme and start date in your e-mail.

Send an e-mail