Grading System

The dutch grading system is on a 10-point scale, from 1 til 10, with at the UvA, a 5.5 meaning a pass. Grades are rounded (usually) by the .5, expect at the pass-fail point, where either you get a 5 or a 6.

The grades at the UvA are weighted, using Testvision, there is usually a ‘guessing chance’ counter-measure. More information can be found under the Exam Regulations of each course, on Canvas or via Studiegids.

Something that especially new students find difficult to realize, that equivilant to UK and US grade, an 8.5 is usually already a 1st/A, and receiving a 10 is extremely rare due to the grades being weighted. Therefore, a realistic expectation should be held for yourself, to balance student and study life.

Roeterseiland

The UvA has different buildings and campuses located in different parts of Amsterdam. The psychology department is located on Roeterseilandcampus, Roetersstraat 11. This is the center of Amsterdam, and the place you will have most of your lectures and tutorials. However, your exams mostly take place at another location, mostly at IWO, Meibergdreef 29, Amsterdam.

The different buildings at Roeterseiland Campus:

  • A, B, C: you will have most lectures in these buildings. These are the bordeaux red, light orange and lila buildings on the map. Big chance that your tutorial groups will take place here as well.
  • D or “De Brug” (the Bridge): De Brug is a canteen on a bridge over the canal on the 4th floor and has an amazing view over the campus. It is the green building on the map. So, for a nice view during your lunch, you should definitely go there.
  • E: Faculty of Economics & Business
  • G: the Psychology Department. The VSPA room is also situated in this building. This is the place to get your summaries, ask your questions about extracurricular activities and meet fellow psychology students. This is the orange building on the map.
  • H: In building H, the red building in the top left corner, is the general canteen. Here you can buy sandwiches, soup, and a changing assortment of warm meals, such as vietnamese, indian or mexican food. Building H also has workspaces, a library and computers to work on.
  • JK: there is a chance that your tutorials will take place in the purple JK building.

For a nice study break, a good lunch, some coffee or a beer, CREA is the place to be. CREA is a cafe and a cultural student center, where you can do a lot. You can do courses in music, dance, film & photography, theatre, creative skills, fine arts and much more. And everything with a discount for UvA students. For more information about CREA go to their website, (https://www.crea.nl/?lang=en) or see the topic down below.

For other food around campus, you should go to “De Brug” or the canteen in the H building. Luckily, the buildings are very well marked on campus with their letters. And you can always ask someone at the service desk of a building. Furthermore, the campus has practical facilities as well. There are computers in the library, you can print on campus, and you can book your own rooms via https://uva.mapiq.net/.

Around campus, there are loads of facilities. There’s a supermarket, Albert Heijn, around the corner. There are tram and metro stops close by, what makes the campus easy to reach. Moreover, there are bars, cafes and restaurants in the streets around campus as well.

For a tour around Roeterseilandcampus, see this video:

Canvas

Canvas is one of the main websites you’ll be using when studying or planning your courses. This is the website where the UvA puts all the information about your courses, they call it their digital learning environment. The course syllabus, your lecture slides, course announcements, assignments, etc. will all be posted here.

Go to canvas.uva.nl and log in with your UvAnetID (this is your student number and password). If you’re logged in, all your active courses are placed on the Dashboard. For help, you can click “Help” in the toolbar on the left of your screen.

If you scroll down in the Help section, there are five tips posted for using Canvas. Also, more information can be found on the UvA Website(https://student.uva.nl/en/content/az/canvas/canvas.html). Hopefully this will help you further!

Who to Contact at UvA

The Ombuds student

The Ombudsstudent is an independent contact person, this year that is Elin Swaan. If you ever find yourself in a situation in which you feel that you are being treated unfairly, or if you disagree with something and you don’t know how to solve it, she is your contact person!

Contact: 

Email: psyombudsstudent-fmg@uva.nl

The study advisors

The study advisor’s primary job is to help you go through your studies without hiccups. For study advice, guidance and planning you can contact one of the study advisers. So, all study related questions are for them! You could come to them for information about a specific course, or any personal issues you might experience, that influence your studying.

Because of the corona restriction, the study advisers work mostly form home, and it’s only possible to visit (Nieuwe Achtergracht, 129-B, rooms G0.23 and G0.24) by appointment.

You can send the study advisors an email and ask for a telephone or zoom appointment if you like. You could also call them during the telephone consultation hours for short questions.

The study advisors are:

  • Rebeka Rotter
  • Rosemarijn Franses
  • Irene Luth
  • Sarah Plunkett

Contact:

Email: Studyadviser-psy-fmg@uva.nl

Open office hours
Monday to Friday 13.00-15.00, REC G0.23 and 0.24.

Make appointment online
Students can make a personal appointment online. An appointment is set for twenty minutes.

Telephone consultation hours

Tuesday              10.00-11.00 T: +31(0)20 525 5855
Wednesday        10:00-11:00 T: +31(0)6 3927 0562
Friday                  10.00-11.00 T: +31(0)6 1893 8247

The VSPA

The VSPA is always there for you, for whatever questions or issues you might have. Both personal and study related questions are always welcome! We will try to help you or send you to the best person to contact.

This year we have two appointed trust persons, Heleen and Irmak. They are the specific people in the VSPA to contact when you have personal troubles and you don’t know who to contact. Heleen or Irmak will then help you out, either directly or with finding the right person.

Contact:

You can contact us via Instagram by sending us a private message, or you can send an email to info@vspa.nl.  You can of course also always stop by at the VSPA room (GS.25)

Trust persons: heleen@vspa.nl and Irmak@vspa.nl

Teacher

You can always contact your teachers, the people giving the lectures, for questions that are related to the study material.

Contact:

Their contact information is course (and teacher) specific, but you can always find them on canvas or by googling: ‘their name, UvA’.

Tutorial teacher 

Your tutorial teacher is there to help you with your study material and studying in general, but they’re also your mentor! You can always contact them with your personal and study-related troubles, don’t be afraid to ask them for help.

Contact: 

Every semester you get a new tutorial teacher, you can always email them via canvas and they usually also share their other contact information in one of the first tutorials.

The education desk

If you have other questions about your application, admission or selection, you can contact our education desk. You may experience difficulties reaching the Education Desk via telephone. If you send them an email, they will reply to you shortly.

You can contact the education desk for:

  • Your (certified) grade list, which includes your GPA
  • Requests about general study information
  • To pick up your propaedeutic and bachelor’s degree (after notification)
  • Information about test viewings and reassessment requests (1st and 2nd year bachelor)
  • Contract education
  • Colloquium doctum (21+ tests)

Contact: 

Educationdesk-psy@uva.nl

Nieuwe Achtergracht 129-B, room G0.22

1018 WS Amsterdam

Telephone: +31(0)20 525 6770 (between 10:00 – 14:00)

Course Registration

Course registration for second and third-year students 

Course registration is easier than you think, but because the first time can definitely be a bit stressful, we’ll give you a step-by-step plan to complete.

The study advisors always sent you an email containing a very useful document, which explains everything very clearly. So be sure to check out that document in case you haven’t.

General information 

As you may already have gathered, the upcoming course registration period for the bachelor of Psychology will take place via a new pilot system called GLASS. From Thursday 25 November 10:00 up to and including Tuesday 30 November 23:59 you can register for the courses you want to take in the next semester.

With GLASS, the idea of ‘first come, first served’ no longer applies: it does not matter when exactly you register, as long as it is within the given course registration period. In addition, you do not choose groups, but only indicate which courses you want to take and what your time preferences are. After registration closes, we will place you in courses and groups, taking into account as much as possible your schedule and time preferences. On 3 December you will hear to which groups you have been assigned and you can access your schedule.

PLEASE NOTE: Because the results of SSR and first-year resits will not (all) be known on 3 December, there will no check on entry requirements after this course registration round. The check will follow at the end of December and January. This means that registration can still be reversed on the basis of this check.

Step-by-step plan

Registering for courses works as follows:

  1. Go to the Course Catalogue, find the course for which you want to register and select ‘Add to course registration’
  2. You will be redirected to GLASS. Please log in there.
  3. You will see a pop-up indicating whether the course is open for registration. If it is, add thecourse to the course registration.
  4. The course will appear in the ‘Registration’ column.
  5. Repeat these steps for all courses. Your registration for these courses will be processed on 3December.
  6. You will receive an email when your registration has been processed. Please log into GLASSto find out in which tutorial you have been placed.

Time preferences

You will be able to use the clock icon in the registration column to designate up to 2 half days when you would prefer not to take any classes. Where possible, this will be taken into account when assigning students to courses and tutorials.

Unsubscribing from courses

To deregister from courses in GLASS, simply click on the course you have registered for and click the deregister button in the window that opens.

Questions

Do you have questions about GLASS and the technical side of course registration? Then please fill in this form. Do you have questions about your study programme or planning? Please contact the Education Desk or the study advisers.

Where can I study?

Volkshotel  

  • This is probably the most well-known study spot for students in Amsterdam. The hotel has a ‘werkplaats’ (workplace) area, with indoor and outdoor workspace, and even work-cabins available. You can book meeting rooms for work or group projects. Usually the ‘werkplaats’ is open until 1AM (2AM on Sundays), but with COVID-19 these opening hours can vary, so make sure to check before you go. https://www.volkshotel.nl/en/werkplaats/

UvA

UB singel

UvA Campus

  • Of course, every UvA campus has a lot of libraries as well. You can always visit these libraries, but in times of COVID-19, make a reservation first!

Cafes

  • Cafes are a great place to work if you don’t like to study in silence, some examples are Coffee Company, Bagels and Beans, CREA, House of Watt, and many more!

OBA

  • OBA stands for Public Library Amsterdam, the main library is located near the Central Station and has seven floors, but there are a lot of different OBA locations all over Amsterdam, so there is always one close to you! https://www.oba.nl/oba/amsterdam-public-library.html

Stedelijk Museum Library

  • The Stedelijk Museum Library is accessible for free and without a ticket to enter the museum.

The Student Hotel, West & East Amsterdam

  • The Student Hotel provides the perfect place to work, there are a lot of students and it acts as a networking hub as well. There is a lot of space and the chairs are comfortable. There are two locations on opposite sides of the city. https://www.thestudenthotel.com/amsterdam-city/