Holland Alumni Conference
19 Mar 2010
On 5 and 6 November 2009, Nuffic organized the first Holland Alumni Conference, that took place in The Hague. During this conference, 180 selected international alumni and 20 current international students from over 65 countries came together to share their insights and expertise on current topics within seven different areas of expertise.
A small historical moment
Nuffic Director-General Sander van der Eijnden called it a small historical moment:
'It is the first time ever that an event such as this is being organized; Holland Alumni from all over the globe have gathered in The Hague to connect with their Alma Mater and the several Holland Alumni networks. As the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education, Nuffic considers it as an obvious task to set up this Holland Alumni network.
Alumni are of great value to the Dutch knowledge economy. As true ambassadors of the Netherlands and Dutch Higher education they can share their experience with potential students about their study time in the Netherlands and about the quality of Dutch higher education.
And, in return, the Netherlands can learn from the knowledge of its international alumni. The Holland Alumni network is open to international minds.'
Seven areas of expertise
The participants attended workshops related to their own area of expertise. The conference was organized around the seven most popular areas of expertise among international students who followed a study programme in the Netherlands during the last few years:
- Water Management
- Information Technology
- Social Sciences
- Geo Sciences
- Agricultural Sciences
- Architecture and Urban Issues
- Business Management
This set-up allowed the alumni to reinforce the relationship with their Dutch higher education institution. Moreover, it offered an opportunity to broaden their expertise and to create both expertise-related and country-related alumni networks. Over 60 percent of the participants came from countries on the NFP country list.
Exchanging knowledge
Through this conference, Nuffic wanted to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between Holland Alumni worldwide, contribute to the formation of alumni networks in different areas of expertise and strengthen the relationships between international alumni and their Dutch higher education institutions.
A new virtual network
On day one of the conference Nuffic’s new virtual alumni platform was launched. Through this network Nuffic aims to stimulate and support Holland Alumni to exchange knowledge, information and contacts. This will help build an active network of well-informed ambassadors of Dutch higher education.
Moreover, the network will play a supportive role for the Netherlands Alumni Associations (NAAs), through a virtual office in which documents can be exchanged and through online training facilities.
At the closing ceremony Sander van der Eijnden announced that this conference was the first in a series of two-yearly international conferences organized by Nuffic.
