In January 2008 the Minister for Education Ronald Plasterk announced that his ministry and associated executive agencies will use the name 'Universities of Applied Sciences' (UAS) to refer in English to institutions offering profession-oriented study programmes.

In recent years, the universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands have grown from teaching institutions to broad-based knowledge institutions. In their dealings with overseas contacts, many of them have already been expressing this fact in the English name they use.

Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences offer higher professional education or Bachelor degree. They are more practically oriented and prepare students directly for careers in several sectors: economics and business administration engineering and technology, commerce, finance, leisure, tourism, marketing, health care

The country has more than 42 such of Universities of Applied Sciences. Graduates obtain the Bachelor degree after 4 years study and are fully qualified to practise their profession. In addition, their diploma qualifies them for admission to several types of further study, including shortened university study programmes leading to Master's degree programmes.

Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences offer a lot of international oriented programmes which are conducted in English and German.