Fontys University of Applied Sciences

Fontys University of Applied Sciences is a government-funded university of applied sciences in the south of the Netherlands that teaches its English-taught degrees in Eindhoven, Tilburg and Venlo. Non-EU students pay $11,410 (€10,210) a year for business and health bachelors and $14,620 (€13,080) for engineering, IT and arts bachelors at 2026/27 rates; the minimum is IELTS 6.0, and the non-EU deadlines are 15 November 2026 for February and 1 June 2027 for September.

The February intake is what sets Fontys apart. Automotive, electrical, mechanical and industrial engineering, ICT and Mechatronics in Eindhoven, and International Business, Marketing Management, Finance & Control and both logistics programmes in Venlo, all have a second start date. If you finish school mid-year or miss a September deadline, you can still begin a degree in the same academic year.

Eindhoven sits in the Brainport technology region, which is why the engineering and ICT programmes lean so heavily on company projects. Tilburg hosts the arts academy, and Venlo, on the German border, concentrates logistics, finance and design.

Fontys lists 22 English-taught bachelor’s programmes. The table shows where each runs, when it starts and which 2026/27 non-EU fee tier it falls into.

The arts programmes in Tilburg close well before the general deadline and include an audition or selection step: Dance on 1 March, the Conservatory of Music on 30 March for non-EEA applicants, and Circus and Performance Art on 1 April. The Conservatory page still labels its date as 2026, so confirm it for the 2027 intake before you apply.

English-taught master’s programmes include Applied IT, Data Driven Business, AI-Translator, Digital Technology Engineering, System Design, Applied Quantum Technology, Master of Music, Performing Public Space and Urbanism, with Architecture, Choreography and the MBA taught part time. The engineering and ICT master’s degrees cost $14,620 (€13,080) a year for non-EU students; Master of Music and Performing Public Space cost $10,040 (€8,980).

You need a secondary-school diploma that gives access to bachelor’s study in the country of issue and is equivalent to the Dutch standard for universities of applied sciences. Fontys refers applicants to Nuffic’s country tables and validates diplomas in up to three weeks.

Subject rules for non-Dutch diplomas differ by programme:

• International Business: satisfactory grades in mathematics or economics.
• Mechatronics: mathematics and physics; for British qualifications at AS or A level.
• ICT: no additional subject requirement.

Missing a required subject is hard to fix from abroad: Fontys accepts Boswell or CCVX certificates, but most of those exams are sat in the Netherlands.

English. IELTS Academic 6.0 overall with every band at 6.0, one band allowed at 5.5; TOEFL iBT 4.5 on the new scale (one section at 4.0); PTE Academic 61; LanguageCert Academic 65; Linguaskill 169; or TOEIC 865 + 335. Tests must be taken at an authorised centre, not online, and be no older than two years at the start date; Cambridge certificates do not expire. Exemptions apply to diplomas on Nuffic’s list with English on the transcript, the IB and EB diplomas, and full English-medium schooling in the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada (outside Quebec), Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Documents: diploma and transcript in the original language plus a certified translation into English, Dutch or German; the English certificate; and a passport copy if Studielink cannot verify your identity. Final-year students can submit current grades for a conditional decision.

Fontys may accept applications up to a later final date for some programmes, but for visa-required students late applications mean slower permits and fewer housing options.

1. Apply in Studielink with your passport, diploma and transcript to hand.
2. Upload the documents Fontys requests by email.
3. Receive an admission or conditional admission after the diploma check.
4. Pay the first-year tuition and visa costs in one payment and arrange proof of living expenses.
5. Team International Students files your visa and residence permit.
6. Send the final diploma before 31 August if you were admitted on interim grades.

The September 2027 introduction week runs from 30 August to 3 September.

Fontys has published fees for 2026/27; its 2027/28 fee indicator page is up, but the amounts are not yet in the fee regulations, so treat the figures below as the latest confirmed rates.

First-year tuition is paid in a single instalment; from year two you can pay in instalments. Proof of living expenses can be bank statements or a transfer to Fontys, refunded in your first month in the Netherlands to a Dutch bank, Bunq or Revolut account. Applicants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cameroon and Nigeria must transfer the amount; statements are not accepted for them.

The NL Scholarship at Fontys is worth $5,590 (€5,000) in the first year, co-funded by Fontys and the Dutch education ministry, for non-EEA students without a previous Dutch degree. At Fontys it is limited to specific programmes: the Marketing Management bachelor’s (Digital Business Concepts), Dance Arts in Context, Music and Circus and Performance Art, and the Tilburg master’s in Architecture, Performing Public Space, Urbanism and Music. You apply directly to the school, separately from Studielink.

Engineering, ICT and most business students should budget without a Fontys award. Erasmus+ funding at Fontys supports exchanges and internships, not a full degree.

Most non-EU students need an entry visa (MVV) and a residence permit (VVR); nationals of Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK, the USA and Vatican City need only the permit. Fontys is an IND recognised sponsor and files both applications. The IND usually decides within two to three weeks, but Fontys advises starting about three months before travel because gathering documents takes time.

• Fontys may decline to sponsor an applicant if it doubts the purpose of stay, and can ask for a questionnaire or an online interview.
• The permit runs until three months after your expected graduation date.
• Work: up to 16 hours a week during the year or full time in June to August, only with a TWV permit that the employer requests at least five weeks in advance; a job also requires Dutch basic health insurance.

Graduates can apply for the one-year orientation-year permit to look for work; the IND fee is $285 (€254).

Fontys arranges rooms for a limited number of international students in their first year; applying does not guarantee a place. Offers go out after the housing deadline, and rent plus deposit must reach the housing agency before arrival — if you do not pay you cannot move in, but the contract obligation remains.

Fontys refers openly to the Dutch housing crisis and asks students to keep searching privately while they wait, and to check landlords to avoid scams.

Fontys is a weaker fit if you:

• want research-oriented engineering — TU Eindhoven is in the same city;
• need a scholarship for engineering or ICT, where the Fontys NL Scholarship does not apply;
• lack school physics or maths but are set on Mechatronics.

Common mistakes:

• sitting an at-home online English test, which Fontys does not accept;
• meeting IELTS 6.0 overall but with two bands below 6.0;
• targeting the 1 June deadline for Dance or Music, which close in March;
• waiting for a Fontys room without searching privately;
• counting on the three-year fast tracks in International Business or ICT, which are designed for Dutch VWO graduates with specific subjects.