SOL a blessing for NFP
15 Sep 2010
On 9 September 2010 Nuffic organized an info meeting to present and explain the new application and selection procedures of the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP). More than sixty staff members representing around thirty Dutch higher education institutions had been invited to this meeting, which was held in Utrecht.
The application and selection procedures were illustrated using the forthcoming fellowship application deadline of 1 February 2011 as a concrete example. In an interactive presentation, which left plenty of room for questions from the public, Nuffic’s ‘presenting duo’ Nancy Barata and Inge Zuidema explained the process using the application of an imaginary fellowship candidate, aptly called Blessing.
The presentations covered the entire process, from a request for admission to a Dutch institution and a fellowship application in Scholarships Online (SOL) to the allocation of scholarships.
In between the presentations, there was enough time to meet and network with colleagues. For some new Nuffic staff it was a good occasion to meet their counterparts at the institutions and exchange experiences. In addition to critical questions, the NFP team also received a lot of praise for the clear quick guide that had been sent out to all participants prior to the meeting, and for the informative presentations.
All systems go
After all the questions had been answered, one participant added: ‘it all sounds very good in theory, but will it also work in practice? Are you ready for it?’
Amande Moesman, Head of Nuffic’s Scholarship Programmes Department, responded by confirming that the system will definitely be up and running on 1 November 2010 for the fellowship application deadline of 1 February 2011 and that all standard features will work properly, resulting in a so-called ‘happy flow’ of 80%.
Growing pains
As with all newly introduced digital systems, however, SOL may hit some growing pains, but these will be registered and tackled after an evaluation of the first application round. One thing is for sure: SOL will go live on 1 November 2010 and Nuffic will be ready for it!
NFP updates
- The fellowship application deadline for refresher courses is 1 November 2010 (i.e. not 1 October 2010)
- SOL training sessions for Dutch institutions will be held on 11, 12, 15, 18 and 19 October 2010
- SOL training sessions for embassies are yet to be determined
More information
More information about the new NFP procedures will be available on www.nuffic.nl/nfp as of 1 November 2010
