Awards & rankings

As Hanze, we strive to offer all employees and students an environment in which everyone's talent can be used to its full potential. We want to encourage you to share your talent with the world around you.

Awards

Students, professionals and employees of the Hanze deliver outstanding performances in the field of social and cultural involvement and innovation. We are proud of them and that is why two student awards have been created: the Henk Pijlman Innovation Award and the Hannie Schaft Award. The Hannie Schaft Award is presented in even-numbered years, while  the Henk Pijlman Innovation Award is handed out in odd-numbered years.

Learn more about the Henk Pijlman Award

Learn more about the Hanny Schaft Award

Hanze medal en Hanze feather

With the Hanze Medal and the Hanze Feather, Hanze University of Applied Sciences expresses its appreciation for employees who have made an important contribution to Hanze as a knowledge institute, the region and society as a whole with their commitment, network, activities or achievements. 

Learn more about the Hanze feather

Learn more about the Hanze medal

Rankings

Each year, the Dutch Keuzegids Hbo (Higher Education Guide) and the Dutch Elsevier Beste studies (Elsevier Best Studies) publish rankings for top programmes, number 1 programmes, and the best universities of the Netherlands.

The international rankings Edurank and the World's Universities with Real Impact (WURI) also publish worldwide rankings for higher education annually. The WURI ranking assesses higher education institutions based on their real-world contributions to industry and society, going beyond traditional academic metrics like research output and focusing on innovation in education, research, and societal engagement. According to the WURI ranking for 2024, Hanze secured the nineth position in the "Global Top 100 Innovative Universities" ranking.

The EduRank ranking has a data-driven approach that combines research output, non-academic online presence, and alumni impact to assess and rank universities worldwide. Based on the EduRank 2025 rankings, Hanze University of Applied Sciences holds the following positions:

• World: Ranked #2129 out of 14,131 universities worldwide.
• Europe: Ranked #702 out of 2,785 universities in Europe.
• Netherlands: Ranked #19 out of 58 universities in the Netherlands.
• Scored in the TOP 50% across 17 research topics

Keuzegids hbo

In 2024, Hanze is ranked fifth out of the 13 large universities of applied sciences when it comes to Bachelor's programmes (full-time). Fifteen of our Dutch programmes have been awarded the 'top programme' designation:

• Associate degrees: Business Administration, Human Resource Management, Management in Healthcare, Mechatronics in Smart Industry, and Social Work in Healthcare.
• Bachelors: Chemical Engineering, Dance (Amsterdam), Teacher of Visual Arts and Design, Teacher of Dance (Amsterdam), Teacher of Dance (Groningen), Teacher of Music, Human Resource Management, Dental Hygiene, Physiotherapy, and Nursing.

Elsevier Best Studies

Six Dutch Bachelor programmes received a medal in 2023:

• Silver: Dance programme in Groningen, Teacher of Dance Amsterdam, and Teacher of Music
• Bronze: Dance programme Amsterdam, Chemical Engineering, and Applied Psychology

Higher Education Awards

In addition to the results mentioned above, there are more awards we are proud of. Hanze lecturers, researchers and professors have received various leading awards in recent years for their valuable contributions to education, practice-based research and society.