Nuffic strengthening ties with Colombia
As part of its efforts to expand its network in Colombia, Nuffic participated in the annual EuroPosgrados fair with a Study in Holland booth. The Netherlands has appointed Colombia as a transition country with a focus on bilateral exchange and investments between the two countries.
Nuffic is working to strengthen the ties with alumni, through collaboration with national and local organisations.
Third in outgoing mobility in Latin America
Colombia is home to nearly nine million 15 to 24 year-olds, 97.9% of whom are literate. After Brazil and Mexico, Colombia sends more students to study abroad than any other country in Latin America. In the 2011-2012 academic year, 272 Colombian students were studying in the Netherlands. Seventy per cent of these students were in a master’s programme.
The Colombian Embassy in the Netherlands, the Colombian Ministry of Education and Nuffic see opportunities for further strengthening the ties and cooperation. Colombia is very active in the internationalisation of its higher education and organisations such as Colciencias, Colfuturo and Icetex offer scholarships for Colombian students to study abroad. Currently there are several Colombian students with a Colfuturo scholarship at Dutch universities.
EuroPosgrados Colombia, November 2012
The two-day Europosgrados fair in Bogota and the one day fair in Cali, promoting European higher education, attracted a high number of visitors. In Bogota there were 8,000 people and in Cali more than 2,300. Many of the visitors were interested in doing their master’s or PHD in the Netherlands. The specific Study in Holland presentations attracted 400 people in total. The overall enthusiasm for studying in the Netherlands was high in both cities.
The University of Groningen, Wageningen University and NIHES (part of Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam) were present at the fair with Nuffic. The universities gave a very positive assessment of the fair and were especially satisfied with the quality of the students.
Additional activities for participating institutions
To increase institutional cooperation, Nuffic facilitated meetings between Dutch and Colombian institutions and organisations. Successful meetings were set up with scholarship organisations Icetex and Colfuturo and the Universidad Nacional (the largest university in Colombia).
To kick off the fair together, Nuffic organised an alumni drink which thirty alumni attended. It was a good evening where stories were shared about how studying in the Netherlands has positively changed the career perspectives of these alumni.