Open Degree Bachelor programme

General

Next to the fixed Bachelor’s degree programmes it is also possible to compose an individual Bachelor’s degree programme in the post-propaedeutic phase, based on article 7.3.4 and 7.3 c WHW (Dutch Higher Education Act).

This will lead to a final examination, which content-wise deviates from any other legal post-propaedeutic Bachelor’s degree programmes; this is called an Open Degree programme.

A request for approve of an Open Degree programme should be sent to the Board of Examiners at least three months before you wish to start such programme. If the request is sent after this deadline, the Board of Examiners can determine that the request will not be taken into consideration.

The Board of Examiners also decides to which accredited Faculty Bachelor’s degree programme the (deviating) programme would belong.
Also check Article 7.9 of the English-taught Bachelor (LLB) Teaching and Examination Regulations (TER).

Guidelines

The guidelines for an Open Degree Bachelor programme are:

• the first year of the programme is set; the open degree starts in year 2;
• the programme must at least be 120 ECTS and should be in accordance with the learning outcomes of the programme as stated in art. 3.1 LLB TER;
• the programme needs to be coherent;
• should have a minimum of 50% of credits (60ECTS) worth of legal courses;
• at least 42 ECTS (35%) and maximum 48 ECTS (40%) should deviate from one of the existing post-propaedeutic Bachelor’s degree programmes;
• the programme has a bachelor concluding course unit fitting to the Open Degree programme, e.g. a Bachelor’s thesis (10 ECTS) or a Research Project (10 ECTS). This bachelor concluding course unit should be completed at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen.

Only courses which are part of an accredited degree programme can be chosen for an Open Degree programme.

No ‘civiel effect’

An Open Degree programme in principle does not grant the so-called ‘civiel effect’, even if it is followed by a Master’s degree programme.

Master’s degree programme after Open Degree programme

If you have questions with regard to admissibility to a Master’s degree programme after an Open Degree Bachelor programme, you can contact a study adviser of the International Office.

Last update 21-6-2024