How to apply

Master of Science in Health Sciences | 1  Year/2 (+) Years | FULL-TIME/PART-TIME | 70 EC points

You will be considered for admission if you hold a university master’s degree and can demonstrate that you meet the following criteria:

1. A relevant Master’s degree from a discipline in or related to clinical medicine, biomedical sciences, public health, health sciences, clinical technology, nutrition, (medical) biology, pharmacy, human movement sciences, psychology, health economics. Note that degrees obtained from universities outside of the Netherlands will be checked via Nuffic to see if the level of the degree is equivalent to a Dutch Master’s degree.
2. Relevant knowledge, insight and skills:
   • • You have experience with performing research and have interest in performing quantitative research;
     • You have already (co-)authored a few scientific publications.
3. Personal competences as demonstrated in your CV and motivation to participate in our research master program and starting a career in biomedical research. Academic performance and competences, based on your average grade (including courses on statistics) and study progress will be taken into consideration as well.
4. English language proficiency (for international applicants from countries where English is not the official language and whose Master’s program was not officially taught in English) . For more information please click here.

Research Master in Health Sciences | 2 Years | FULL-TIME | 120 EC points

You will be considered for admission if you hold a university bachelor’s degree and can demonstrate that you meet the following criteria:

1. A relevant Bachelor’s degree from a discipline related to clinical medicine, biomedical sciences, public health, health sciences, clinical technology, nutrition, (medical) biology, pharmacy, human movement sciences, psychology, health economics, or a broad Bachelor’s education (e.g. university college) with subjects in these disciplines. Please note: We do not consider an Applied Sciences Bachelor’s (HBO) degree as sufficient. Degrees obtained from universities outside of the Netherlands will be checked via Nuffic to see if the level of the degree is equivalent to a Dutch Bachelor’s degree.
2. Relevant knowledge, insight and skills such as research skills and statistical knowledge.
3. Personal competences as demonstrated in your CV and motivation to participate in our research master program and starting a career in biomedical research. Academic performance and competences, based on your average grade and study progress will be taken into consideration as well.
4. English language proficiency (for international applicants from countries where English is not the official language and whose Bachelor’s program was not officially taught in English) For more information please click here.

Research Master in Clinical Research | 2 Years | FULL-TIME | 120 EC points

//Please note that as of the academic year 2026-2027 the research master in Clinical Research will be incorporated into the Health Sciences programme as a major in the same capacity. Prospective students interested in the Clinical Research Programme for the academic year 2024-2025, can apply for the Health Sciences programme.//

If you are a medical student at  Erasmus MC, you can apply for the Research Master in Health Sciences. This programme is accustomed to your Bachelor and Master in Medicine. Read more.

For PhD candidates at the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, a customized application procedure exists.

Note that the procedure changed from the academic year 2022-2023.

PhD candidates can start their programme only at the start of the academic year. However, you are allowed to sign up for courses that belong to the master programme before the start of your programme. The mandatory courses of the master programme can be found in the study guide. At the end of fall, the list of electives will also be available under downloads. You will be able to find more information about the application procedure for courses in section above.

As soon as you are accepted in the master programme, you can request the examination board to have these courses count towards your degree. The current Teaching and Examination Regulations allow course exemptions with a maximum of 14 EC.

1. Are you eligible?

Make sure you are eligible by carefully checking the “Are you eligible?” requirements in the information about the programmes or courses.

2. Prepare your application

The online application form includes fields to upload your documents. Please prepare the following documents:

• A letter of motivation in English (max. 500 words!), explaining your wish to apply and the career you wish to pursue.
• Your curriculum vitae (résumé), which should be extensive and include the following information:
  • full contact details of your supervisor(s) and promotor;
  • a list of educational departments attended and corresponding dates;
  • degree(s) obtained or expected to obtain;
  • work experience and corresponding dates of employment for each position held;
  • research experience and a complete list of publications;
  • all other relevant information.
• Collect full contact details of your PhD supervisors (promotor(s) and/or copromotor(s)) to enter in the online application form (step 3).
• Study plan, to be filled in together with your PhD supervisors.
• Scans of official transcripts of diplomas and reports (lists of grades) translated into English and with original stamp and/or certification from the institute concerned. If you have not yet graduated when submitting your application, please provide a graduation statement. This statement should be stamped and signed by your university, certifying your expected date of graduation, and your transcripts (list of grades obtained thus far).
• Scans, if relevant, of a valid test score of an official English proficiency test: an IELTS test score, a TOEFL test score (TOEFL Institutional Code: 8462), or a Cambridge Proficiency score. Please note, IELTS or TOEFL test results cannot be older than two years, whereas Cambridge Proficiency results have no expiration date. To see whether the scans of the English proficiency tests are relevant for you, please check the English requirements. The Nuffic certificate is not necessary.

3. Complete your application form

• You can complete your application by following the general Application Procedure from step 3. (see above) Make sure to fill in that you are a PhD student at Erasmus MC.
• In addition, make sure you are registered as PhD at Erasmus MC in Hora Finita. More information can be found in STIP – Registration process (erasmusmc.nl)

You can find an overview of the available NIHES courses in the Academic calendar. On the course page, you will find more information about the fees, prerequisites and participants profile. If a course is not available in the course catalogue, it could be that it’s fully booked at the moment or that it is available for the NIHES Master Programme students only. We do not manage a waiting list, but advise you to check the course catalogue regularly to see if a spot has become available.

Click here to open the course catalogue and register for one of the NIHES courses. Please note that you can register for one course at a time and that you need to pay the course fee directly, unless you are employed by Erasmus MC and prefer to arrange payment via the cost centre of your department. Erasmus MC PhD candidates can participate in courses free of charge. In these cases a payment of €1.00 is required for administrative purposes. All (international) PhD candidates without formal appointment, can participate with 25% reduction on the course fee. Read more on the reduction of fees here.

If you have a student ERNA-account, but you are unable to login, please send an email to graduateschool@erasmusmc.nl to request a reset of your account. You will not be able to login and register with an EMC-employee ERNA-account.

External PhD candidates are required to upload a proof of enrollment as a PhD candidate, to be eligible for a discount.

Note that you will receive an automatic confirmation of your registration on your student ERNA account email address. Once your application is processed by NIHES, an additional confirmation will be sent to the email address you have used to register for the course.

Registration for courses in the Winter/Spring semester opens on 1 December, or the first working day after. Application deadline for each course: two weeks before the start of the course.

Registration for courses in the Fall semester opens on 14 August. Application deadline for each course: two weeks before the start of the course.

The course registration allows you to attend the course sessions only once. If applicable, you are entitled to two examination opportunities to pass the course.

Are you are a student who is currently enrolled in a government-funded Master’s programme at a Dutch university accredited by the NVAO(**)? And would you like to register for one or more short courses which should count as ‘keuzevak’ towards your Master’s degree? Then please carefully read step 1 to 4 of the application procedure before submitting your application.

1) Prepare your application

Deadline for application: 3 weeks before the start of the course.

When you apply online you should prepare the following documents:

• A letter of motivation in English (max. 500 words!), explaining why you would like to attend the course(s).
• An extensive curriculum vitae (résumé) in English (using Europass format, see Europass), including:
  • a list of educational institutes attended and corresponding dates;
  • degree(s) obtained or expected to obtain;
  • work experience and corresponding dates of employment for each position held;
  • research experience and a complete list of publications;
  • all other relevant information.
• A scan of the letter of the Examining Board of your Master’s programme that they approve of your participation in our course(s).

2) Complete your application

For students at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR):

Share the prepared documents by sending an email to graduateschool@erasmusmc.nl

For all other Dutch students (non-EUR):

Please follow the instructions at:

https://www.eur.nl/en/education/elective-courses, choose ‘An elective course at EUR as a non-EUR student’.

3) Assessment of your application

NIHES aims to confirm receipt of your application as soon as it has reached us. All complete applications that reach us before the deadline, will be carefully assessed by an Admissions Committee.

4) Outcome of the assessment

You will be informed about the outcome of the assessment with an official letter of admission or rejection. If you have been admitted to the course or courses you registered for, you will be provided with further details about your registration and relevant formalities and practicalities.

Please note that to fulfill the course you need to attend the course and pass the exam (when included).

(**) The NVAO (Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatie organisatie) is the Accreditation Organisation of The Netherlands and Flanders.

Please view the cancellation policy here