Dentistry

The University of Groningen has developed a special preparation programme for all scholarship students of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia studying Dentistry in the Netherlands, a so-called pre-dental programme. Before you can enter dental school you must pass the pre-dental programme. This programme will take a maximum of twelve months and will start immediately after your arrival.

Pre-dental programme

Dental programme

Language requirements for Saudi Arabian Students

Studying Dentistry in Groningen requires language proficiency in both English and Dutch. It is desirable that students should have a good level of proficiency in English (IELTS 5.0 or higher) even before coming to the Netherlands.

From the early stages of their education, students from Saudi Arabia need Dutch language skills in order to communicate well with patients, and to co-operate well with fellow students and various health professionals, including faculty staff in clinical settings.

Furthermore, theoretical teaching in the Dental Curriculum will be in Dutch. For this reason, intensive classes are offered during the preparatory curriculum, which precedes the study of dentistry, to improve students' proficiency in English and to bring their Dutch up to the required level.

Focus will be on English initially to enable students to have a thorough understanding of the literature used from the very start of their dental curriculum.
Dutch lessons will start quickly during the preparatory curriculum, because there is only limited opportunity early in the dental curriculum to develop greater proficiency in the Dutch language.
In order to support study progress of the students, in the first year small group teaching additional to the regular program will be offered in English.