The first Nuffic Neso Open Day
The very first Nuffic Neso Open Day was held on 19 February in the Hague and was well attended by 85 representatives of Dutch higher education institutions. The aim of the event was to connect the Dutch higher education institutions with the Nuffic Neso offices. Nuffic management and all the Nuffic Neso directors were present.
The Nuffic Nesos
Nuffic’s Netherlands Education Support Offices (Nesos) support the Dutch higher education field in generic promotion and student counselling, institutional cooperation, market information and analysis, and Holland Alumni networks. There are Nesos in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Taipei, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Trends in internationalisation
Nuffic’s director-general Freddy Weima opened the Nuffic Neso Open Day. He stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation within the field of internationalisation in higher education, both in the Dutch higher education field and with partners abroad.
Another important focus, which was also highlighted in the speech of Hanneke Teekens, was binding talented international students to the Netherlands. To this end Nuffic organised the NL4Talents event on 23 February and also launched the career portal.
Head of the Education Promotion department, Han Dommers gave a presentation on the Neso developments.
Developments in Neso activities
Nuffic is taking action to align the Neso activities with the ever-changing education markets around the world. In consultation with the Dutch higher education field and the Ministry of Education Culture and Science, the following plans have been made to further develop Neso activities:
- Nuffic Neso offices and desks will remain in the target countries, but Nuffic will review whether a more regionalised approach in South-East Asia could improve effectiveness.
- Nuffic is looking into establishing a fully fledged Nuffic Neso office in India.
- The availability of Study in Holland information will be improved, through online promotion tools including Study in Holland information in Spanish, mainly targeted at Chile, Colombia, Peru and Argentina.
- Several Living Labs are being developed together with the universities of applied sciences to strengthen the position of these institutions in the Neso countries,
At the Open Day there was a special lunch meeting for marketeers, organised in close cooperation with the Dutch Higher Education Network for International Marketing (DHENIM).
The Nuffic Neso Open Day showed once again the close cooperation between Nuffic and the Dutch higher education institutions and the interest in positioning Dutch higher education in the Neso countries.