A project evaluated general and specific learning objectives for undergraduate science practicals in institutes of higher education in the Netherlands. Of 50 institutes offering education in the natural sciences that were surveyed, 36 returned 2 instruments that were used to determine the perceived importance of the learning objectives and a background questionnaire. Results for university education (UE) and higher vocational education (HVE) obtained in this research were compared with each other and with results of a study of the Open University of the Netherlands (OUN). It was determined that differences between HVE and UE were smaller than differences between the OUN and UE and those between OUN and HVE; differences between the OUN and UE were smaller than those between the OUN and HVE. HVE classified more specific objectives concerning execution of experiments as indispensable than did UE. HVE emphasized practical laboratory skills, data interpretation, and confirmation of existing theories. UE attached little importance to practical skills, but emphasized hypothesis or model formulation and design of experiments to test hypotheses. The OUN emphasized the ability to define and solve problems, derive hypotheses from theories, and adapt models to new experimental results and put much less emphasis on laboratory skills. (Appendixes include 28 references and 28 data tables/charts from this study and the OUN study.) (YLB)