Eligibility

25 Jan 2010

A candidate applying for an NFP fellowship for a short course must:

be a national of and working in one of the selected developing countries on the NFP country list valid at the time of application;
be a mid-career professional with at least three years' work experience;
not have received an NFP fellowship or any other fellowship in the three years prior to the start of the proposed short course.
have been unconditionally admitted by a Dutch institution to one of the short courses on the course list. This means that the applicant must have met all the requirements set by the Dutch institution;
have completed an NFP short course application form and have submitted all the required documentation to the Netherlands embassy or consulate;
be nominated by his or her employer, who pledges to continue paying the candidate’s salary and guarantees the candidate will be able to return to an equivalent position at the end of the fellowship period. Partial payment of salary can sometimes be allowed as an exception to the rule. It is up to the Dutch embassy to decide if an agreement between the employer and the candidate about partial continuation of payment of salary is acceptable. It should be noted, however, that NFP allowances are not sufficient to support family members, either in the home country or in the Netherlands;
not be employed by a large industrial, commercial, international or multinational organization, which can be assumed to have sufficient resources of its own to finance staff training;
offer evidence of proficiency in speaking and writing the language of instruction. If this is English, candidates who have received their tertiary education in any language other than English must provide evidence in the form of a score in an internationally recognized test, such as IELTS (a score of at least 6.0) or TOEFL (a score of at least 550 points on the paper-based test , 213 points on the computer-based test or 79 on the internet-based test). An exception to this rule is made for candidates who have received their tertiary education in the English language, and for candidates who have previously attended a course or programme with a Dutch educational institution, but no longer than two years ago;
be available for the entire period of the course and be physically and mentally able to take part in the entire course;
declare that they will return to their home country immediately after the short course has ended;
comply with country-specific rules set by RNE (for more information please contact the Netherlands Embassy or consulate in your home country).

Pregnancy

Please note that the health insurance policy does not cover pre-existing conditions. For instance: being pregnant before the start of the fellowship period. Costs that are not met by the health insurance policy cannot be claimed from Nuffic.

Medical expenses arising from a pregnancy conceived in the Netherlands will be covered by the health insurance. However, pregnancy and childbirth can cause a number of financial, insurance, legal and logistical problems that are not easily solved and are therefore best avoided during the fellowship period.

If a pregnant fellowship holder is able to follow the programme or course and complete it within the specified time she may, of course, continue her studies as planned. The medical expenses arising from a pregnancy conceived in the Netherlands are covered by the insurance. Pregnant fellowship holders always have to contact their Dutch institution to check their position.

Joint Courses

A number of short courses takes place, partly or in its entirety, in one of the NFP countries. NFP fellowships will be available only for participants originating from the NFP country where (part of) the course takes place and for participants originating from surrounding countries that are part of the same region as the country where the course takes place.