Health, Ageing and Society (MSc)
February starters
Students are welcome to start in February
Starting the master's program in February is an an option! You will join the cohort that commenced in September. To ensure you feel welcome, we will organize an introduction session and a social gathering with the current students.
- First day fulltime students: Monday 2 February 2026
- First day parttime students: Friday 6 February 2026
As fulltime student, you will finalize your first course mid April 2026. After this, no lectures are offered until early September. You will have time to prepare for your internship that you will do in February 2027 (i.e. orientate where you want to go and think about research question). Also you can work on your Individual Learning Plan (ILP). In September 2026, lectures and working groups will continue. You can start your internship in February 2027.
For parttime students, your first module will last until June. Lectures and working groups re-commence after the Summer break in September 2026.
Non-EER students
Non-EER students are strongly recommended to start in September to avoid visa problems. Starting in February will cause issues for your visa. The reason for this is that from February until Summer you will not obtain a sufficient number of ECTS to extend your visa. For questions please contact the study advisor.
Experiences from a February student
Below is a story from one of our students who started studying in February.
Rochnie Booij
“In February 2023, I started the master’s Health, Ageing and Society (HAS). Starting in February worked very well for me, since I initially wanted to follow only an elective course for my studies in Personalized Medicine at the VU. It turned out that I liked HAS so much, that I decided to enroll for the entire master’s programme on a parttime basis. The small scale and personal touch in the master’s programme is very unique.
The programme offers three main perspectives on ageing: biological, societal and older individuals. This is a nice structure and chronologically it does not matter in what order you follow the courses. The students in my working group were very warm and open to welcome me, even though they had already started in September. My fellow students helped me to get familiar with how things worked in class and with assignments. Because of the small and personal scale of the master’s, it felt safe and it was very easy to reach out to the master staff with questions. This all made me feel at home quickly!
The master’s programme gives me the broader perspective on older people, elderly care and the management of care that I was looking for. Moreover, I find the line education very valuable. It has taught me many academic skills like presenting, writing a policy paper and press release for instance. All in all, I have learned a lot and I am very happy with my choice for this master’s!”