Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs

Voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs (VWO, meaning "preparatory scientific education" in Dutch) is the highest variant in the secondary educational system of the Netherlands, attended by approximately a fifth of all Dutch high school students. After leaving primary or elementary school students are enrolled in different types of secondary schools, according to their academic ability. The course is a six-year course and successful completion allows the candidate admission to Dutch universities. The VWO is therefore a matriculation exam. The VWO includes the so-called Gymnasium variant, which differs from the regular VWO variant (also called Atheneum) in that it has Latin and/or Classic Greek as an additional, compulsory part of the curriculum (some schools offer additional courses as well). A few schools offer only the Gymnasium variant, called 'Categoriaal Gymnasium'. Of all VWO students, around a quarter follow gymnasium, accounting for approximately 5-6% of all Dutch high school students. Prior to 2001, students had to choose at least 7 out of roughly 14 (options varied by school) topics on which they would ultimately take the national examinations. Dutch and a modern foreign language—most often, but not necessarily, English—were the two compulsory topics, with five topics open for choice, which students picked according to their ability and interest. Students in the Gymnasium substream had to take at least one classical language (Ancient Greek, Latin). For others, the most commonly chosen topics included English, French, German, physics, biology, mathematics (applied and advanced), chemistry, history and economics (macro and micro). Less common topics were Spanish, Russian, West Frisian, Italian and philosophy. Since the 2001 'Phase II' reforms of Dutch secondary education, candidates have to specialize in one or more of four 'profiles' at the start of their fourth year of study in the VWO. They contain a fixed set of topics which form a less fragmented study course to offer students a better and more holistic preparation for their university studies.