Our history
“Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen”, the Dutch name of our institution, is history. We now bear the English name, HAN University of Applied Sciences. But we’re still 1 HAN. Ever since 1996.
What does "HAN" stand for?
"HAN" is an acronym of the older, Dutch name of our institution: Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, H A N. We now use the English name "HAN University of Applied Sciences". We still go by "HAN" sometimes, just because it's easier!
26 years of HAN
Our educational institution is the result of numerous mergers and significant growth in student numbers. Only in this way do you go from 20 independent educational institutions to 1 HAN in over 10 years. The most important reason for these mergers? The government and the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences believed that many schools were too small to organize their education properly. The financial aspect was also a factor. In short: there was great pressure to collaborate.
A complete university of applied sciences
That collaboration didn’t always go smoothly. Some mergers were abandoned at the last minute. But nobody wants an unfinished product: a university with only economics or engineering programs. So the schools continued to merge. Until we became the HAN we know today, 26 years later.
Anniversary year 2021
2021 was the 25th anniversary of HAN University of Applied Sciences. So it was time for a celebration with the theme "Old enough to know who you are, young enough to want to keep learning". And time for colleagues, students and our partners to look back on a quarter of a century of HAN. You can still watch the after movie! Turn on subtitling as it's partly in Dutch.
What is HAN's ranking?
HAN does not appear in the major university ranking systems. That’s because it’s a university of applied sciences. HAN is ranked in the Netherlands each year through the National Student Survey.
