Blogs
Here Nuffic staff and external experts provide background information on current events and analyse ongoing developments in international higher education.
2012 - The year of the MOOCs?
As usual a lot can happen in a year, and for 2012 this was not different. One of the developments that was highlighted by the end of the year by an initiative in the UK is the emergence of top universities offering free online courses. Can 2012 be baptised – among others – the year of the MOOCs (massive open online courses)?
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?
JDAZ - A reference guide on joint degrees
Joint degrees are high on the internationalisation agenda in the European Higher Education Area. This month a new project started titled ‘Joint Degrees from A to Z’ (JDAZ) The project, which Nuffic coordinates, aims to provide clarity by developing a reference guide on joint degrees. But why develop a new guide if so much has already been published about joint degrees over the last years? And how to make sure that such a guide keeps providing state of the art information?
Four steps to creating sustainable academic partnerships
Are you considering collaborating with one or more higher education partners to add value to your institution? In our rapidly changing global society, HEIs need academic partners to exchange people, ideas and methods, and institutional partnerships have become big business. But how do you create partnerships which are truly sustainable? In this blog, Nico Evers and Jenneke Lokhoff provide you with some essential tips based on the recommendations of experts involved in European-Asian partnerships.
Capacity building of developing countries good for international business
Development cooperation, particularly through educational capacity building, contributes to growth of the middle class in developing regions, which, in turn, contributes to the sustainability of international business.
Heading in the same direction?
Within Europe, national policies on international student mobility are influenced by European-level policies, developed by the European Commission or in the framework of the Bologna Process. Does this mean that national policies on student mobility in Europe are converging? And if so, in which ways?
OBHE report on international branch campuses
The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (OBHE) recently published its fourth report on international branch campus (IBCs), one of the intriguing developments in internationalisation in higher education of recent years.
Student mobility to the Netherlands, compared with other EU countries
In an earlier blog I referred to Dutch students studying abroad. The same OECD data also allow for comparison between countries regarding student inflows, or better, regarding foreign students registering in the country.
Dutch students abroad in the academic year 2008-09
The most recent data on Dutch students registering in other countries for study (diploma mobility), reveal a further growth of the number of students studying abroad.
Competing for the brightest students?
This blog argues that vision and coherence are needed in Dutch international student recruitment policies at the national level. Some countries manage to do it, so why can’t we?
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.
Regional harmonization of higher education: a global perspective
Developments in various parts of the world indicate that there is a global trend towards regional harmonization of higher education (i.e. working towards greater comparability of higher education structures and practices – not necessarily standardization of higher education).
In the Swiss mountains
Early November I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Switzerland as I was invited by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW).
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.
Mapping Mobility 2011: international mobility in Dutch higher education
This month, Nuffic published its annual publication on international mobility in higher education: Mapping Mobility 2011. The document gives information about the number of international students, their countries of origin, the most popular Dutch institutions and many, many other facts on international students in the Netherlands.
Emerging higher education hubs
Upcoming providers of international higher education in the developing world.
Fond friends or hungry dragon? China’s increased higher education collaboration with Africa
At the end of August, government leaders from China and South Africa announced that they would advance bilateral cooperation in a range of areas, including higher education and scientific research.