Number of UvA doctorates rises again due to increase in foreign PhD candidates
In 2025, 676 PhD candidates obtained their doctorates at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). This marks the third consecutive year of growth in the number of doctorates awarded, with an increase of more than 6 per cent this year. This increase is in line with a national trend that can be partly explained by an increase in the number of international PhD candidates.
More foreign PhD students
According to a spokesperson for the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the increase in the number of PhDs awarded at the UvA is in line with the national trend. The number of PhDs awarded in the Netherlands has been rising since the turn of the year, reaching a record number of 5,595 in 2024, with a clear dip in 2020 when many PhDs were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Rathenau Institute, this national increase can be partly explained by an increase in the number of foreign PhD students. The proportion of foreign PhD students graduating from Dutch universities rose from 37 per cent in 2007 to 58 per cent in 2024.
Cum Laude
Although more women obtained a PhD, more men received the distinction cum laude. A total of 16 men obtained a PhD cum laude at the UvA in 2025, compared to 14 women.
At the Faculty of Science (FNWI), men are most likely to graduate with honours. In 2025, no less than 8 per cent of men graduated cum laude, compared to just under 5 per cent of women. At the Faculty of Medicine, the chance of graduating cum laude was exactly the same for men and women, at just under 4 per cent.
The distinction cum laude, intended to distinguish theses of “excellent scientific quality”, is not without controversy. Research by UvA professor of sociology Thijs Bol shows that women are almost half as likely as men to graduate with honours. Several medical programmes have already abolished cum laude for PhDs, including the VU University Amsterdam. Last autumn, the University of Twente also stopped awarding cum laude in order to combat inequality between men and women.
The University of Amsterdam acknowledges that honours are awarded more often to men than to women, but does not yet want to abolish the designation. However, the university does say in Het Parool that it will “take measures”, such as raising awareness among doctoral committees, ensuring a more balanced composition and revising the assessment criteria.
