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?
Synergy in action: a new Nuffic publication
Coordination of capacity building programmes in higher education and research.
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.
New perspectives on Dutch capacity development programmes in post-secondary education and training
On 2-3 July the conference ‘Shaping the Future: new perspectives on Dutch cooperation in post-secondary education and training for sustainable development ’ took place in The Hague. The conference was organised by Nuffic on behalf of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss directions and perspectives for the design of new Dutch programmes for cooperation in post-secondary education and training.
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?
Rebranding gender: Healing the fatigue
Rebranding ‘gender mainstreaming’ may be just what we need to move beyond the current fatigue that seems to have gripped the development field whenever the term is mentioned.
Value for money in international education: a new world of results, impacts and outcomes?
Imagine if development partners would only pay for results if they were delivered (Cash on Delivery) or if they requested ‘money back’ guarantees from developing countries?
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.
Gender in Dutch international capacity development programmes: scholarships
This is Part 1 of a two-part blog summarising the lessons that Nuffic has learned with regard to mainstreaming gender in three key programmes of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Part 1 focuses on the scholarship-based programme NFP while Part 2 focuses on the project-based programmes NPT and NICHE.
Gender in Dutch international capacity development programmes: projects
This is Part 2 of a two-part blog summarising the lessons that Nuffic has learned with regard to mainstreaming gender in three key programmes of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Part 1 focuses on the scholarship-based programme NFP while the current blog focuses on the project-based programmes NPT and NICHE.
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
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.
Dutch impact on Mozambican Higher Education
Earlier this month the vice minister for Education of Mozambique, Dr Arlindo Chilundo, visited Nuffic to celebrate Nuffic's 60th anniversary and to attend the Mozambique day organised for Dutch institutions that participate in the NPT and NICHE programmes.
Gender in the Dutch international cooperation strategy
The more than 20 private sector development cooperation programmes that have recently been established in the Netherlands barely include a gender equality focus. Yet, at the national level, the government has articulated its intention to pursue women economic empowerment in its foreign policy. Can this gap between intention and action be closed? And how?
Tackling low secondary school completion rates in Mozambique
The capacity building activities in developing countries managed by Nuffic focus on higher education in relation to the local labour market. Nevertheless, there is also recognition of the problems faced at lower education levels since these also impact on the magnitude of the capacity building needs of the labour market.
Achieving sustainable self-reliance without educational capacity building an illusion
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MinBuZa) and Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (MinEL&I) recently announced more than 20 financial instruments to facilitate increased international cooperation between the Dutch private sector and the private sector in 60 selected developing countries all over the world.
TVET's turn to make its mark?
These are clear signals that TVET and skills development are back on the agendas of the donor community after a two-decade absence in which basic education topped the agenda.
Towards new partnerships and funding sources for development cooperation in HE
The persistent financial crisis that has rung in with the new millennium has had a significant impact on the field of development cooperation, particularly with regard to budget.
Debating the value of NQFs in developing countries
The rife use of old boy networks in job placement does not and should not make continued implementation of National Qualification Frameworks redundant.