Science without Borders: first group of 165 bachelor students
The Netherlands is preparing to receive a first group of 165 Science without Borders (SwB) scholarship holders. The majority of the students will follow a twelve months study programme at bachelor’s level starting in September.
Excellent students
Originating from all regions in Brazil, the students were each presented by their home institutions as the most talented to the programme´s executing body, the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The CNPq approved their selection.
Parallel to this rewarding selection process the group applied successfully for a bachelor’s course in one of the programme’s priority areas at a Dutch higher education institution.
Objectives
The objective of the overall SwB programme is to boost Brazil´s science and technology and to mirror it to international standards. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff personally initiated the programme in December last year and has made it her priority.
Until 2015, the Brazilian federal government will grant scholarships to over 100,000 Brazilian students, at bachelor’s, PhD and post-doc level to study and research at the world’s finest higher education and research institutions.
SwB Holland
Science without Borders Holland is part of the overall programme, though with country specific determinations, and was set up through the cooperation between Nuffic and the CNPq.
Brazilian students apply directly at the Dutch higher education institution of their choice and they register for the scholarship at the same time. The Dutch host institutions receive a compensation of 8,000 euro for each Brazilian student who attends a full academic year.
The programme is a perfect opportunity for Dutch higher education to get acquainted with Brazilian higher education, since it concerns Brazil’s most talented students from the country’s best institutions. It is also a good foundation to initiate institutional cooperation.
The exchange of knowledge and the Dutch experience of this BRIC country’s future decision-makers will certainly strengthen the ties between the Netherlands and Brazil in the fields of education, technology, culture and economics.
More calls
A second bachelor’s call is foreseen before the end of 2012. Exact dates and details will soon be available on Nuffic Neso Brazil´s SwB page. Dutch higher education institutions will receive more information through email.