Blogs
Here Nuffic staff and external experts provide background information on current events and analyse ongoing developments in international higher education.
Getting insight into training needs in the South: Comparing NFP TMT and Short Course Programmes
What does an analysis of TMT programme themes, in relation to NFP short course themes, tell us about the actual training needs in partner countries in the South?
Tailor-made Training: Huge returns on investment
In our previous blog last Wednesday, we unpacked the key characteristics of the Tailor-made training modality. In the present blog we discuss cost effectiveness of the programme and how Nuffic is balancing this against the rising interest in the programme.
Tailor-made Training: A very effective capacity building instrument
Nuffic’s Tailor-made Training (TMT) programme is fast, flexible, responsive, relevant, demand-driven and target-oriented. In this blog, we unpack these adjectives of acclamation to illustrate just what it is that distinguishes this modality of capacity building.
What international alumni appreciate about study and life in Holland
Nuffic conducted a study on what Holland Alumni from the countries where a Neso office is located, appreciated about their study and life in the Netherlands. What do the results tell us in relation to the potential to successfully attract and bind international alumni for the Dutch labour market?
The Value of an International Degree: Matching Expectations on Career Prospects to Reality
Nuffic recently conducted a study on the effect of a Dutch degree on the career prospects of alumni from Neso countries. What do the results tell us?
Can benchmarks on education output advise on international cooperation strategies?
Many countries and institutions seek cooperation with growth markets, such as the BRICs. A look at ranks on education output shows that these countries do not always score high. In some circles, this has raised a question: shouldn’t we focus more on co-operation with countries that traditionally score high on benchmarks, such as Finland and South Korea?
The Learning Curve: On tertiary education and internationalisation
As part of a project to create a better understanding of what leads to successful educational outcomes, Pearsons in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published a report last week that received global press coverage. The report 'The Learning Curve. Lessons in country performance in education' formulates lessons and insights for policymakers to achieve better results on national education outcomes.
The scramble for international alumni: Towards balanced benefits
Should students from developing countries, who are studying in developed countries, return home upon graduation to contribute to the development of their own economies? Or is it okay for their developed host countries to actively poach and retain them for the good of their own labour markets?
E-TRAIN
Last June, the E-TRAIN project held a conference in Madrid, Spain. It was organised to disseminate the results of the project on training experts on quality assurance.
Internationalisation appears to be good for the economy. Let’s increase its quality.
The Dutch economy benefits from the internationalisation of higher education. At least, that is what is presented as one of the careful conclusions of the report by the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, recently published on the request of the State Secretary for Education. The report examines whether the internationalisation of Dutch higher education is indeed as beneficial for the Dutch economy as we all expect.
Finalised IMPI tool for benchmarking internationalisation
The final symposium of the IMPI project took place in Brussels on 10 May and was attended by participants from all over Europe. The symposium obviously included detailed information on the IMPI project but also provided information on related projects, such as AHELO and MAUNIMO.
Can we measure the impact of scholarships?
Recently I participated in a seminar organised by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) in the United Kingdom on measuring the impact of international scholarships. In 2007 the Commission organised a similar event which focused on methods to measure the results of scholarship programmes through tracer studies. DFID, the major sponsor of the Commonwealth Scholarship Programme, wanted to see some hard evidence of the results of the scholarships that had been awarded over the years
Benchmarking internationalisation
In this blog we look at how higher education institutions can benchmark their internationalisation initiatives.
Internationalisation strategy: supporting all aspects of HE strategy?
Internationalisation is present in many parts of higher education institutions like research, curricula, libraries, marketing and student population. Of course, any self respecting institution has included some reference to internationalisation in its vision, mission or activity plan.
HR capacity building firmly embedded in Europe’s current growth strategy
Human resource development is a major cross-cutting theme in Europe's overall growth strategy for the current decade: Europe 2020.
The Learning Agreement: still essential? How to set up and measure quality abroad
Both the quality of Erasmus mobility and the recognition of credits remain returning topics when it comes to international credit mobility. There are several tools and initiatives that try to look into these matters. Some are older, like the Learning Agreement, some are younger, like recent mapping, benchmarking and quality assurance initiatives.
Quantity or quality in internationalization of higher education?
In an effort to secure public attention, and possibly funding, attention of Higher Education management seems to focus on quantitative aspects. Although accreditation still plays an important role in informing the public about the quality of higher education, rankings have gained a lot of attention over the past few years.