Red Carpet continues to roll out
20 May 2011
Work on the 'Red Carpet’ programme plan is in full progress. Susanne Feiertag, secretary of the steering group, has established that coordination among numerous parties in the process is getting better and better.
Susanne Feiertag
Red Carpet has two main objectives: clear and unambiguous communication regarding study options and the associated admission procedures in the Netherlands, and streamlining of administrative processes. Once the roll-out of Red Carpet is complete, international students will be able to expect smooth and accurate processing of their enrolment and residency permit applications.
Steering group
The Red Carpet steering group contains representatives from eight organisations. Besides Nuffic (who delivered the chairman in the person of Director-General Sander van den Eijnden), the other organisations are the Education Executive Agency (DUO), the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (HBO-raad), Kences (an alliance of Dutch student accommodation institutions), the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), Studiekeuze123, Studielink and the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU).
As well as her role as secretary, Susanne also has responsibility for effective communication between the parties involved. “It is important that everybody who is involved knows what the others are doing,” she stresses. “That is why we started running events such as informal meetings for project managers, and uploading a regular newsletter about Red Carpet developments to www.rodeloperprogramma.nl”.
Higher education institutions
Higher education institutions have an important part to play in Red Carpet. Their representatives take part in the four project groups who have now started work on a range of sub-projects. Susanne Feiertag explains: “Red Carpet also aims to make things easier for higher education institutions, which means that their experiences and needs are a crucial part of the entire process. We are trying to cater for their needs as much as we can, and of course there is a lot we can do with their input and suggestions”.
Initial results
Susanne Feiertag: “The initial results are already in, in the form of integration between the International Study Programmes database (ISPAC) and Studiekeuze123. This means that institutions only need to submit the changes to their international programmes once”. Studielink will also be conducting a study (in Project C) on improvements to the ‘admission and enrolment of foreign students’ procedure through improved application and use of Studielink.
In Project D, Kences is investigating the provision of and possible improvements to the accommodation information currently being provided to international students. The collaboration among the organisations involved also represents a tangible result.
Susanne Feiertag concludes: “What matters is that we are trying to achieve a joint result in the interests of international students, higher education institutions and the knowledge economy: clear communication regarding study options and the associated admission procedures in the Netherlands, and streamlining of the administrative processes. It’s about working in a more customer-friendly and transparent manner with everybody involved”.
For more information, please visit www.rodeloperprogramma.nl.
We will use this website to keep you up to date on the developments in the Red Carpet project.