Finance: Duisenberg Honours Programme in Finance and Technology

Check if you meet the programme requirements and sign up

• I have a School of Business and Economics Degree from VU Amsterdam

  The Duisenberg Honours Programme in Finance and Technology is aiming at highly ambitious students with a background in economics or business, who have a special interest in modern technology. Alternatively, students from a more technical bachelor programme, such as business analytics, engineering, computer science, or physics, with some training in finance and economics might qualify. It is an 84 credit honours programme, which makes it more challenging than the regular programme.

  Admission requirements

  • This is an honours programme, which means that students are admitted on the basis of their motivation letter, their grade point average for the Bachelor’s degree, their CV and a sample of academic writing.
  • With a Bachelor's degree in (International) Business Administration, Economics and Business Economics, or Econometrics and Operations Research, you may be admissible if you have a grade-point average of at least 7.0 and have successfully finished the required course list below. Check this document for a complete overview of required courses and exemptions.

  Required courses and exemptions

  BSc Bedrijfskunde:

  • Programming for Economists (X_400644, P6)
  • Asset Pricing (E_IBK3_AP, P4); formerly known as Financial Modelling and Derivatives (E_IBK3_FMD, P4)
  • Financial Markets and Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI, P4)
  • Investments (E_EBE3_INVES, P5) 

  AND one research course, choose between:

  • Empirical Finance (E_MFAE_EFIN, P2)
  • Quantitative Research Methods III - Economics and Finance (E_EBE3_QRMEF, P4)

  Exemptions:

  • Completion of the Minor “Risk Management for Financial Institutions” replaces the requirement to complete “Financial Markets & Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI)”
  • Completion of the Minor “Applied Econometrics: A Big Data Experience For All” replaces the requirements to complete “Programming for Economists (X_400644)” and the research course (either “Empirical Finance: E_EBE3_INVES” or “QRM III - Economics and Finance: E_EBE3_QRMEF”)

  BSc Economics and Business Economics:

  • Finance II (E_EBE2_FINA2, P2)
  • Financial Markets and Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI, P4)
  • Investments (E_EBE3_INVES, P5)
  • Quantitative Research Methods III - Economics and Finance (E_EBE3_QRMEF, P4)

  Exemptions:

  • Completion of the Minor “Risk Management for Financial Institutions” replaces the requirement to complete “Financial Markets & Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI)”
  • Completion of the Minor “Applied Econometrics: A Big Data Experience For All” replaces the requirement to complete “QRM III - Economics and Finance (E_EBE3_QRMEF)”

  BSc Econometrics and Operations Research / Econometrics and Data Science:

  • Financial Markets and Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI, P4)
  • Investments (E_EBE3_INVES, P5)

  And choose between:

  • Finance II (E_EBE2_FINA2)
  • Financial Modelling and Derivatives (E_IBK3_FMD)

  Exemptions:

  • Completion of the Minor “Risk Management for Financial Institutions” replaces the requirement to complete “Financial Markets & Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI)”

  BSc International Business Administration:

  • Programming for Economists (X_400644, P6)
  • Asset Pricing (E_IBK3_AP, P4); formerly known as Financial Modelling and Derivatives (E_IBK3_FMD, P4)
  • Financial Markets and Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI, P4)
  • Investments (E_EBE3_INVES, P5)

  AND one research course, choose between:

  • Empirical Finance (E_MFAE_EFIN, P2)
  • Quantitative Research Methods III - Economics and Finance (E_EBE3_QRMEF, P4)

  Exemptions:

  • Completion of the Minor “Risk Management for Financial Institutions” replaces the requirement to complete “Financial Markets & Institutions (E_EBE3_FMI)”
  • Completion of the Minor “Applied Econometrics: A Big Data Experience For All” replaces the requirements to complete “Programming for Economists (X_400644)” and the research course (either “Empirical Finance: E_EBE3_INVES” or “QRM III - Economics and Finance: E_EBE3_QRMEF”)

  
  Services for international (EBE, EDS, EOR, IBA) students / Residence permit:

  If you are planning to continue your studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam after your SBE Bachelor, please contact the Central Admission’s Support Team of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam for further information and specific questions about the offered services for international students like extending your residence permit. You will need to apply for extension of your residence permit if you continue your studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 

  When you apply for this master's programme, you will need an application form. You can find it here.

• I have a Dutch university level (WO) bachelor’s degree (VU bachelor’s degree, VU pre-master's or bachelor’s degree at another university)

  The Duisenberg Honours Programme in Finance and Technology is aiming at highly ambitious students with a background in economics or business, who have a special interest in modern technology. Alternatively, students from a more technical bachelor programme, such as business analytics, engineering, computer science, or physics, with some training in finance and economics might qualify. It is an 84 credit honours programme, which makes it more challenging than the regular programme.

  Students must meet the following admission requirements:

  1. Academic requirements

  In order to gain admission to our Master’s programme, you need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited research university including at least three full years of academic study amounting to a minimum of 180 EC or equivalent.

  2. Programme specific requirements

  • This is an honours programme, which means that students are admitted on the basis of their motivation letter, their grade point average for the Bachelor’s degree, their CV and a sample of academic writing
  • GPA of at least 7.0/10 for the Bachelor’s degree and relevant courses. We do not require a GRE or GMAT test score.

  Moreover, we expect you to have successfully completed courses based on the following literature, or equivalent:

  • Investments - Bodie, Kane, and Marcus: Investments, or equivalent
  • Financial Markets and Institutions - Mishkin, Matthews and Guiliodori: Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets, Pearson or equivalent 
  • Mathematics - Sydsaeter, Hammond and Strom: Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, Prentice Hall, or equivalent
  • Business Statistics - Berenson, Levine, Szabat: Basic Business Statistics, Pearson, or equivalent
  • Programming - Training (or verifiable experience) in a programming language equivalent to 6 ECTS (for example, Python, R, Matlab, C++) 

  Examples

  Approval is in most cases given to students with a GPA of at least 7.0/10 for a Bachelor’s degree in:

  • Computer Science with sufficient finance elements
  • Data Science with sufficient finance elements
  • Econometrics
  • Economics with sufficient quantitative elements
  • Engineering with sufficient finance elements
  • Physics with sufficient finance elements
  • (Applied) Mathematics with sufficient finance elements 

  Approval is in most cases given to students who completed the VU Pre-master Finance with a GPA of at least 7.0/10 and training (or verifiable experience) in a programming language equivalent to 6 ECTS (for example, Python, R, Matlab, C++).

  My profile is missing one required course

  If you do not fully meet all criteria regarding the completed courses, the Admission Board might offer you the opportunity to follow an (online) course in finance, statistics, or programming to help you fulfill the admission requirements.

  Professional certificates in finance (CFA, FRM or CF1) are not accepted as a substitute for a qualifying academic degree. In combination with a qualifying academic degree in another field, those certificates may be accepted for meeting some of the programme-specific requirements.

  Other information

  With a Bachelor's degree in (International) Business Administration, Economics or Econometrics and Operations Research from Dutch Universities you can review this table.

  Please note: The information in the table is only meant as an indication of your admissibility. No rights can be derived from the table. This document is based on the obligatory courses and does not take electives into account. Students are recommended to apply for the Master via Studielink (without obligation) to find out if additional courses need to be completed. Every application will be reviewed individually by the Admission Board. The final admission decision may differ from the indication in this table. If your programme is not listed but contains enough relevant courses, please feel free to apply.

  When you apply for this master's programme, you will need an application form. You can find it here.

• I have a Dutch higher vocational education (HBO) bachelor’s degree

  The Duisenberg Honours Programme in Finance and Technology is aiming at highly ambitious students who have a special interest in modern technology. It is an 84 credit honours programme, which makes it more challenging than the regular programme.

  Approval is in most cases given to students with a bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences who completed the VU premaster Finance with a GPA of at least 7.0/10 and training (or verifiable experience) in a programming language equivalent to 6 ECTS (for example, Python, R, Matlab, C++).

  The admission committee will assess if you meet the admission criteria and will inform you about the decision via email. 

  The premaster Finance is a 30 EC fulltime programme with courses on at least three days a week and runs from February till July.

  Here you can find detailed information about the premaster Finance

• Application procedure with a Dutch degree

  Step 1:
  Apply for the programme MSc Finance via Studielink before 1 June. You can apply for the specialization in VUnet (see step 2).

  Please note: in Studielink you can apply for the Master in Finance and in VUnet you can select the specialization Duisenberg honours programme in Finance and Technology.

  Step 2:
  After application in Studielink, you will receive a VUnet-ID and password. Please complete your application in VUnet by answering additional questions, affirming your choice for the specialization Duisenberg honours programme in Finance and Technology and uploading the Master Application File. Download the correct file here. In this file you can see which documents are required to apply for this programme.

  Please note: we can only process your application when you uploaded a complete Master Application File. 
  
  Step 3:
  The admission committee will assess if you meet the admission criteria and will inform you about the decision via email. 
  
  For the full description of the registration procedure see the VU website.

• I have an international degree

  Students must meet the following admission requirements: 

  1.  Academic requirements

  Your previous education needs to be deemed equivalent to at least a Dutch academic Bachelor’s degree (wetenschappelijk onderwijs, WO) obtained at a research university (nominal duration 3 years). Please find more information about your admissibility with a non-Dutch degree here. 

  Professional certificates in finance (CFA, FRM or CF1) are not accepted as a substitute for a qualifying academic degree. In combination with a qualifying academic degree in another field, those certificates may be accepted for meeting some of the programme specific requirements below. 

  2. Programme specific requirements

  The Duisenberg Honours Programme in Finance and Technology is aiming at highly ambitious students with a background in economics or business, who have a special interest in technology. Alternatively, students from a more technical bachelor programme, such as business analytics, (applied) mathematics, or physics, with some training in finance and economics might qualify. It is an 84 credit honours programme, which makes it more challenging than the regular programme.      

  We expect you to have successfully completed courses based on the following literature, or equivalent: 

  • Investments - Bodie, Kane, and Marcus: Investments, recent edition 
  • Financial Markets and Institutions - Mishkin, Matthews and Guiliodori: Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets, Pearson, recent edition 
  • Mathematics - Sydsaeter, Hammond and Strom: Essential Mathematics for Economic Analysis, Prentice Hall, recent edition 
  • Business Statistics - Berenson, Levine, Szabat: Basic Business Statistics, Pearson, recent edition 
  • Programming - Training (or verifiable experience) in a programming language equivalent to 6 ECTS (for example, Python, R, Matlab, C++)  

  Furthermore: 

  • This is an honours programme, which means that students are admitted on the basis of their motivation letter, their grade point average for the Bachelor’s degree, their CV and a sample of academic writing  
  • GPA of at least 7.0/10 (based on our conversion to the Dutch grading system) for the Bachelor’s degree and relevant courses   

  If you do not fully meet all criteria regarding the completed courses, the Admission Board might offer you the opportunity to follow an online course in finance, statistics or programming to help you fulfill the admission requirements. 

   
  How to demonstrate that you meet the above requirements 

  You are required to indicate in the course description section of the Application Form how you meet the programme specific admission requirements.  

  Whether you meet the admission requirements, is determined by the Admission Board based on your complete application. 

  3. English-language proficiency requirements  

  You will have to demonstrate sufficient English language proficiency. You can find an overview of relevant information to demonstrate your English language proficiency on the language requirement page.  

• Application procedure with an international degree

  Application documents

  To apply you are required to provide the following documents:

  Scan of your passport or national ID card (ID for EEA students only) valid at the start date of the programme

  Master Application File please download the correct file from this page. In this file you can see which documents are required to apply for your programme.

  Proof of English language proficiency (if already obtained): upload your proof of English language proficiency or English language test results. Please find the English language requirements here.

  After having prepared the required documents, please follow the online application procedure. 

  Application fee & deadlines

  All students seeking admission to an international Master’s programme with an international degree are required to pay a non-refundable €100 application fee. Only after you have paid this fee will we be able to start the evaluation of your application file. If you are applying for more than one programme, you will only need to pay the application fee once. Your application fee payment is valid for two years.
  
  Information on how to apply with an international university degree and deadlines can be found here. 

  Grants and scholarships

  As an international student planning to study at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, you can apply for a variety of grants and bursaries. Detailed information about scholarships and deadlines can be found on www.vu.nl/scholarships or www.grantfinder.nl.

  International Student and Alumni Ambassadors 

  Our International Student and Alumni Ambassadors are happy to tell you all about their experiences with studying at VU Amsterdam and living in Amsterdam.

  • Our Student Ambassadors are current students at VU Amsterdam that represent a wide variety of programmes and countries.
  • Our International Alumni Ambassadors are VU Amsterdam graduates who are currently either working in the Netherlands or abroad, or doing a PhD or (second) Master's.

  You will find the full overview of our Ambassadors here: vu.nl/ambassadors. There you can chat with them directly.