MSc Business Administration

The University of Amsterdam’s MSc Business Administration is the first Amsterdam programme on this site — a one-year, fully English-taught generalist management master at the Amsterdam Business School, the business school of one of continental Europe’s oldest and largest research universities.¹ The University of Amsterdam does not appear in the FT Masters in Management table, so the salary and employment figures here draw on the school’s own careers data rather than FT data.⁵

Overview

The University of Amsterdam traces its roots to the Athenaeum Illustre of 1632, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the Netherlands.⁸ Its Amsterdam Business School holds the triple crown of international accreditation — AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA — which fewer than one percent of business schools worldwide achieve.² The MSc Business Administration is a 60-ECTS, 12-month programme taught entirely in English, with intakes in both September and February.¹

What sets the programme apart is its breadth of specialisation tracks — nine in total, spanning Strategy, Leadership & Management, Consumer Marketing, Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, International Business, and a newer Strategy & AI Transformation track — so students build a common management core and then go deep in the direction that fits their career.¹ The class is genuinely global, drawing students from more than 100 nationalities across the wider master’s intake.¹

Curriculum & Structure

The programme is a single intensive academic year of 60 ECTS. Students take a shared management foundation before specialising in one of the nine tracks, combining coursework with a thesis or applied project.¹ Because there is no second year, the pace is brisk and the cohort moves through the year together — a structure common to the strongest one-year European management master’s.

Amsterdam itself is part of the value proposition. The city is a European hub for technology, finance, marketing and fast-growing scale-ups, and the Roeterseiland campus sits within easy reach of the companies that recruit from the programme.¹

Application & Deadlines

Admission to the MSc Business Administration is selective and test-based: applicants need a relevant academic bachelor’s (in business administration, economics or a closely related field, with sufficient quantitative and research content), a GMAT or GRE score above the published minimums (around 535 on the GMAT Focus Edition, or a GRE quantitative score of at least 152), a GPA equivalent to a Dutch 7.0 or higher, and proof of English (IELTS Academic 6.5 overall, or TOEFL iBT 92).⁴

The programme runs two intakes a year. For the February 2027 intake, verified deadlines are 1 November 2026 for non-EU/EEA applicants needing a visa or university housing, 1 December 2026 for EU/EEA applicants without housing, and 1 January 2027 for Dutch-degree holders.³ Exact September 2027 dates are not yet published — confirm the current cycle on the school’s admission page before you plan around them.

Tuition & Funding

One of the programme’s most compelling features is its fee structure. For 2026/27, EU/EEA students pay the Dutch statutory tuition rate of approximately €2,694 for the entire 12-month programme — among the lowest fees for any triple-crown-accredited management master’s in Europe.⁶ Non-EU/EEA students pay the Amsterdam Business School institutional rate of approximately €24,050.⁶ Amsterdam is one of the more expensive Dutch cities for living costs, so non-EU applicants in particular should budget for accommodation, which is in high demand.

Career Outcomes

The University of Amsterdam does not appear in the FT Masters in Management 2025 ranking, so there is no FT weighted salary figure; the data here is drawn directly from the school’s own careers reporting. The school reports that graduates take an average of about two months to find a job and earn an average starting salary of around €3,100 per month.⁵ Graduates move into multinationals and corporates, marketing and agency roles, entrepreneurial firms, NGOs, and banking and insurance, with example employers including Oracle, EY, TomTom, ING Insurance and Nike.⁵

For a broader view of whether a MiM makes financial sense, see our analysis of whether a MiM is worth it in 2026, and for the wider Dutch and European picture, what a MiM pays in Europe.

Rankings & Reputation

The University of Amsterdam is consistently ranked among the leading European research universities. Its own Faculty of Economics & Business rankings page places the Master’s in Business Administration 55th worldwide and 38th in Europe in the relevant 2026 QS table, while the University as a whole sits inside the QS World University Rankings top 60.⁷ The programme is not ranked in the FT Masters in Management table — Maastricht is the highest-placed Dutch school there — so applicants comparing on FT standing should weigh that alongside the school’s accreditation, location and very low EU fee.

For applicants weighing the Netherlands, it’s worth comparing the MSc Business Administration directly against Rotterdam School of Management and Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics — the two other Dutch programmes we profile — on fee, ranking, intake and city. To see how the full European field lines up, browse the complete rankings and the program catalogue, and map your application timing on the deadline tracker.