Midway through the propaedeutic year, in December or January, the school will verify your study progress for the first time and make an integral assessment. If your study results and progress are unsatisfactory and the term review meeting has insufficient confidence in your ability to successfully complete the study programme, you will receive a written caution before 1 February to inform you that you risk being issued with a negative binding study recommendation at the end of the academic year. In some cases a student decides to terminate the study at this stage.


At the end of the first study year the study programme decides whether or not to grant you a propaedeutic certificate that admits you to the main phase. In extreme cases, if your progress and development are inadequate, you will be served with a negative binding study recommendation (nbsa). This means that you cannot enroll for the same study programme at the Amsterdam University of the Arts.
We conduct talks with all students who receive an nbsa. In special cases, depending on the results of the integral assessment, we may offer a student the chance to repeat the entire first year. This offer signifies that we have sufficient confidence that the student in question will attain his/her propaedeutic certificate the following year. 


If the (expected) nbsa is the result of exceptional personal circumstances, the student is advised to contact the student counsellor in good time. The student counsellor can, in consultation with the directorate, decide if it is possible to defer the recommendation till the second year or until the student has repeated the first year.

More information about the exact regulations concerning a suspended study recommendation can be found in the Education and Exam Regulation of the Academy for Theatre and Dance 

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