The Netherlands Programme for Institutional Strengthening of Post-secondary Education and Training Capacity (NPT)
06 Mar 2012
The Netherlands Programme for Institutional Strengthening of Post-secondary Education and Training Capacity (NPT) aims to strengthen the capacity of post-secondary education and training organisations in a selected number of countries. The NPT is currently being phased out.
- Projects for institutions in a limited number of countries in a targeted group of sectors and themes.
- The Dutch Ministry of foreign affairs assigned in cooperation with the selected countries a number of sectors and themes.
- Partner institutes can be institutions for post secondary education and related organisations.
- For more information please contact the Netherlands Embassy in the NPT countries.
Basic characteristics of the programme
The NPT is a programme of South-North cooperation which helps developing countries to strengthen their institutional capacity for providing post-secondary education and training. It does this by mobilising the expertise of Dutch organisations, who may call on organisations in other countries to help them meet the specific needs of Southern partners. The education and training capacity which the NPT addresses must be relevant to the sectors and themes targeted for the Dutch bilateral support given to the countries in question. More general support for the higher education sector is also a possibility, as is support for projects which cut across the chosen sectors and themes.
Support can be given to organisations in the South that play an important role in the development of post-secondary education and training capacity. These include institutions for post-secondary education, government ministries, national commissions, and non governmental organizations (NGOs).
The NPT is demand-driven and flexible, and it addresses local priorities. ‘Ownership’ on the part of stakeholders in the South is an important feature of the programme. To achieve a good quality-price ratio, the grants by which Dutch organisations provide the necessary services are awarded on a competitive basis. The programme emphasises the achievement of results; in other words, it is output-oriented.
Participating in the NPT programme
Dutch development cooperation is focused on a limited number of countries. The countries that participate in the NPT have been selected by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from among the countries with which the Netherlands has multi-year cooperation arrangements.
One of the basic characteristics of NPT is that the programme addresses higher education and training capacity relevant to sectors and themes targeted for Dutch bilateral support. The NPT is also demand-oriented. This means that the relevant national authorities, the Netherlands Embassy and other stakeholders, have a say in deciding the individual sectors and themes supported by the programme in their country.