What is the difference between HBO and WO bachelor?

Hi Hazel! HBO are universities of Applied Sciences, which are more practical oriented universities. For example, Saxion University of Applied Sciences. Whereas, WO are more research or academic-oriented universities, for example, the University of Twente. In addition, applied sciences(HBO) have bachelor programmes for 4yrs and research/academic universities(WO) have bachelor programmes for 3yrs.

Hello Hazel!

For Dutch students, the biggest difference between HBO and WO is the qualification needed to attend the studies. For international students, they are the same (A-levels of some sort). Other differences are that HBO bachelors take 4 years, whereas WO bachelors take 3. The reason for that is that HBO bachelors include a lot of practical elements, such as an internship and a minor, whereas WO have mostly theoretical modules. An advantage of a WO bachelor is, that you can immediately start with a WO master afterwards. If you have an HBO bachelor you can either do an HBO master or do a so-called pre-master and do a WO master afterwards. In general, though, both HBO and WO bachelors are internationally accepted and seen at the same level, with the main difference being that WO is considered more theoretical where HBO is practical.

I hope this helps. In case you have any further questions, please let us know!