The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) has suspended its investigation into the conduct of the VU University Amsterdam (VU) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA), after the universities stated that they will not make agreements on tuition fee rates for a second university study (with the exception of joint study programmes).

Since the 2010-2011 academic year, universities have been allowed to charge an institutional tuition fee rate for initial degree programmes offered to students who already have a Bachelor's or Master's degree. The NMa had begun an investigation into whether the UvA and VU had coordinated with each other in setting the institutional tuition fee rate.

In the course of the investigation, the NMa and the universities discussed whether the Competition Act was applicable in this case. This question will not be answered, now that the investigation has been suspended,.