Blog posts
EAR2 – online recognition manual and training
On 24 April, the kick-off meeting for the EAR2 project took place in The Hague. EAR is short for European Area of Recognition, and EAR2 is one of the follow-ups to the successful EAR project that ended last January with the delivery of the European recognition manual. This manual aims to provide clarity in the divergent world of recognition procedures for foreign qualifications by agreeing on recognition standards and providing examples of good practices in Europe.
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.
Benchmarking internationalisation
In this blog we look at how higher education institutions can benchmark their internationalisation initiatives.
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?
NVAO launches platform for good practices in internationalisation
In Australia good practices in Quality Assurance have been made public through a digital archive for many years now. Personally I find this a very good source of information. So why not launch one in the Netherlands as well? That is exactly what NVAO, the Dutch Flemish Accreditation Organisation, did earlier this month.
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?
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.
Strategic choices
Strategic choices in higher education was the main theme of a seminar held recently as part of an annual Netherlands higher education conference. Dutch higher education, as in many other countries, is facing massive cuts, reforms and the need to reorientate and refocus to safeguard its future.
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?
Internationalisation strategy: supporting all aspects of HE strategy?
Internationalisation is present in many parts of higher education institutions like research, curricula, libraries, marketing and student population. Of course, any self respecting institution has included some reference to internationalisation in its vision, mission or activity plan.
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.
In the Swiss mountains
Early November I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Switzerland as I was invited by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW).
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.
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.
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.
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.
National policies on internationalisation: boon or curse?
The chicken or the egg? Is internationalisation a bottom-up or top-down process? It is probably safest to say it is both. But if that is true do they meet? And if so where?
