Re-accreditation by the NVAO

Our Master of Science in Health Sciences (70 EC) programme has been re-accredited for another six years by NVAO (the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders).This means that the programme meets international requirements as well as the high quality standards required by Dutch law. The panel feels the programme has a distinctive epidemiologic research profile, with a strong focus on causal inference and modern statistical methods, relevant to this contemporary and rapidly changing field, and this is recognizable in its seven majors. The panel really appreciates the flexibility of the programme and how the wide range of electives, the research project and the assignments offer the students plenty of room to pursue their individual needs. Furthermore, according to the panel, the small scale of the programme and the smart use of technology-enhanced learning activities allows for interactive and intensive teaching, which has been highly valued by the students who provided feedback during the site visit.

The panel noted that the international teaching staff consists of experts in the respective fields who are well qualified and able to assist the students in the development of their competences. The international student composition is diverse in terms of educational and cultural background and experience, enabling the students to learn from each other in an international scientific environment. It concluded that Alumni can be expected to find their way onto the labour market easily. The performance of alumni of the postgraduate master is very good, with most of them continuing in PhD positions. In fact, several former graduates have obtained professorships at universities in the Netherlands and abroad, further supporting the longstanding reputation of the master’s programme in Health Sciences.

Revised curriculum
They were very pleased to hear about the implementation of the revised curriculum as of the new academic year, which makes students from most majors to fulfil the VvE requirements upon graduation.
The students are trained to the level of VvE-registered epidemiologists (the Dutch Society for Epidemiology, Vereniging voor Epidemiologie) who can resolve health research problems in a professional practice. It also appreciated that skills training is being further developed as part of the Lifelong Skills learning trajectory.

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