Editorial
15 Sep 2010
The holiday season in the Netherlands is over. Yet during the summer break a lot of people continued to spend time and energy on our programmes.
SOL almost ready for launch
The development of Scholarships Online (SOL), our new software application for NFP and other scholarship programmes went ahead. Scholarships Online allows a fully digitized processing of applications and is tailored to the new NFP selection procedure.
Tests are being carried out and corrections and improvements are incorporated in the final release. We are confident that it will be up and running on 1 November as planned.
This newsletter contains two articles on NFP: a short impression of the information meeting for NFP representatives of Dutch institutions, held on 9 September, and an overview of the renewed alumni activities sub-programme. But, as we have seen in previous newsletters, Nuffic’s alumni activities are not just an NFP affair; they cover all forms of student mobility to the Netherlands.
Lots of tenders
This summer we published a lot of NICHE calls for subsidy tenders. In order to allow potential bidders to enjoy their well deserved holidays and develop good-quality proposals we extended the bidding deadlines with several weeks. In the next few months to come, and continuing into 2011, a large number of calls will be published at a comparable rate.
Thorough preparation pays off
The whole identification and articulation process has now gained momentum after a relatively long period with few calls. This is due to NICHE’s more elaborate identification processes, which involves stakeholders at the national level in a more formal way. Although this does take extra time, it has a positive impact on relevance, ownership and alignment with national and bilateral policies.
NICHE in Kenya and Guatemala
This newsletter provides more insights into NICHE activities in Kenya and Guatemala. Kenya is a new country in Nuffic's portfolio, while in Guatemala NICHE will build on capacity that has been developed under the NPT programme.
Learning how to learn
Part of the NICHE approach is its focus on a number of key topics, with gender being the most prominent cross-cutting theme. In this issue of our newsletter we will address the concept of learning organizations.
Nuffic enters the Blogosphere
On Monday 6 September Nuffic launched its International Education Monitor. The online monitor provides a complete and up-to-date overview of news, policy developments and background information relating to international higher education. The Nuffic Blog forms the centrepiece of the International Education Monitor. Here, Nuffic staff and external experts provide background information on current events and analyze ongoing developments in international higher education. All 23 NICHE countries are included in the monitor. Visit the website to find out more: www.nuffic.nl/niem.
Finally, I hope this newsletter provides interesting reading material and I wish you best of luck with your contribution to our programmes.
Joep Houterman
Director Capacity Building & Scholarships
