Application procedure & deadlines
Open Courses Law 2025/26
The Law Faculty offers about 80 law courses in English, on a wide variety of subjects.
Not all of these law courses are open to you as a guest student: some courses are only open to LLB or LLM student. Depending on your academic background, you might be allowed to take bachelor or master courses. About 40-45 law courses are available to Open Courses Law students.
Application documents
If you wish to apply, you must send in an application which will be checked/assessed by the International Office and a member of the Faculty’s Board of Examiners. You must include:
-
letter of motivation
-
clear copy of passport
-
study results up to date and/or present occupation
-
proof of sufficient English proficiency (TOEFL or IELTS score or Cambridge C1 Advanced/Cambridge C2 Proficiency
Only online applications can be considered.
English proficiency
If your native language is not English must provide adequate evidence of proficiency in English. We accept the following tests:
|
Language test |
Overall |
Listening |
Speaking |
Reading |
Writing |
|
IELTS Academic* |
7.0 |
6.0 |
6.0 |
6.0 |
6.5 |
|
TOEFL iBT** |
100 |
21 |
21 |
21 |
23 |
|
LanguageCert Academic |
75 |
65 |
65 |
65 |
70 |
|
Pearson PTE Academic |
71 |
54 |
54 |
62 |
70 |
|
Cambridge C1 Advanced |
All scores |
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|
Cambridge C2 Proficiency |
All scores |
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* We do not accept IELTS Online and One Skill Retake certificates.
** TOEFL MyBest Scores are not considered in the admission procedure.
Exemption possibilities
It is possible to request exemption from handing in an English proficiency test in the following situations:
-
your native language is English;
-
you are taking/have completed an English-taught bachelor's degree programme at a Dutch research university;
-
you come from a bi-lingual country; or
-
you have taken a different kind of English-taught programme.
Please bear in mind that an exemption based on situation 4 is hardly ever awarded.
In all cases, it is up to the Admissions Board to decide upon all exemption requests.
Application process
The application process follows several steps:
-
If you can be admitted, the International Office will inform and hand your file over to the Open Courses Law administration.
-
The administration will send you a letter of acceptance, which includes the list of courses you are allowed to join.
-
From that moment on, all further practical details will be arranged by the Open Courses Law administration. The Open Courses Law administration will provide more information on the further procedure, registration, fees, way of payment, cancellation conditions, etc.
The contact person for the Open Courses Law is Ms Helen Hofman. Sh provides relevant information on the programme, the courses, and enrols you for the various courses and exams.
Do not use the national application system Studielink. Since Open Courses Law is not a full degree programme, it does not appear in that system.
Deadlines
The application deadline for semester 1 courses is 1 June 2026. The application deadline for semester 2 courses is 1 November 2026.
Cancellation conditions
If you wish to cancel, you can only do so in writing. The following costs apply:
|
Timing of cancellation
|
Costs
|
|
>4 weeks before the start of a course
|
No costs
|
|
2-4 weeks before the start of a course
|
€65 administration costs
|
|
<2 weeks before the start of a course
|
No refund of the course fee
|
Certificate
After successful completion of a course, participants will receive a certificate.