There are 14 research universities in the Netherlands, organised in the UNL (Universiteiten van Nederland). 30 per cent of all research is done at these universities. All eight University Medical Centres (UMCs), which are members of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres (NFU), are partnerships between a teaching hospital and the medical faculty of a university.

In addition, there are several research institutes: 10 hosted by KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) and 9 by the National Research Funder NWO.

The 36 universities of applied sciences are taking on a growing role in research and are organised in the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (Vereniging van Hogescholen).

All information on the Dutch research environment can be found at 'Science in figures' of the Rathenau Institute (institute of the KNAW).