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.
Erasmus on budget – will there be funding?
Early this fall it became clear that the Erasmus student mobility grant is underfunded. This is due to earlier shortages in the EU budget and a lower budget for 2012 than the European Commission asked for in the negotiations with the European Parliament and member states. Overall, the European Commission needs € 9 billion euros extra for their 2012 expenditures, of which € 90 million is needed to comply with the agreements made for the Erasmus programme.
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?
Online media crucial in study abroad communication?
Young people increasingly find information on education online. But is that also the case for study abroad options? Most literature is focussed on the use of online media in the recruitment for full degree programmes. In this blog we will discuss the use of online media to stimulate (short term) outgoing mobility.
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?
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.
International student mobility: European, Dutch and institutional policies
On 5 June, the Dutch National Agency for Lifelong Learning organised a well-attended conference to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Erasmus programme. And where better to celebrate this than in Rotterdam, Erasmus’ own city!
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.
Internationalisation in support of teaching staff
For once, let’s talk about staff and internationalisation without looking at staff mobility. If only because the majority of teaching staff are, in fact, non-mobile and they constitute a considerable group of professionals in any country.
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?
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?
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).
Erasmus for All: more money, less paperwork
On 23 November 2011 the European Commission released its long-awaited proposal for Erasmus for All, the successor of the Lifelong Learning Programme. We already knew that the Commission wants to increase the budget for education purposes to approximately 19 billion euro. Now we also know how this money is to be spent.
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.