Masters degree Fellowships, Netherlands Fellowship Programmes
The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) are demand-driven fellowship programmes designed to foster capacity building within organizations in 57 developing countries by providing training and education to their mid-career staff members.
Deadlines: 1 Oct 2008 and 1 Mar 2009
Requirements for eligibility
A candidate applying for an NFP fellowship for a master’s degree programme must:
be a national of and working in one of the 57 developing countries
have been unconditionally admitted by a Dutch institution to one of the master’s degree programmes on the course list. This means that the applicant must have met all the requirements set by the Dutch institution;
have completed an NFP Master’s Degree Programme 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 the 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 staf ftraining;
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 or 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 four years ago;
be available for the entire period of the programme and be physically and mentally able to take part in the entire programme;
declare that they will return to their home country immediately after the study programme has ended.
Employer support
The need for education and training must occur within the organization of the applicant. This means that applicants must be nominated by their employers. In fact, applications without the support of an employer will not be considered.
Applying for NFP
Applicants must first gain academic admission to the course of their choice before applying for a fellowship through the Netherlands embassy or consulate in their country. Also, they can only apply for an NFP fellowship if the course is on the NFP course list for that particular year. In all cases, applicants are advised to contact the Netherlands embassy or consulate, well in advance for specific instructions, and to inquire about specific local procedures and deadlines, requirements and selection criteria.
Application procedure
The application and selection procedure for a master’s degree programme consists of the following steps:
Application for admission at a Dutch educational institution
Applicants first apply for admission to the master’s degree programme of their choice. Applications should always be directed to the Dutch provider of the programme. The deadlines for these applications vary. The master’s degree programmes overview (given below to download) provides the academic application deadlines for each master’s degree programme.
The provider assesses the application and decides whether or not the applicant’s educational background and other experience meet the specific requirements for the programme in question. The provider then informs all applicants of its decisions. Successful candidates will receive a letter indicating that they have been (provisionally) admitted. Admission must be unconditional in terms of the candidate’s education and language proficiency. Admission may be granted provisionally, subject to the candidate finding suitable funding for the programme.
Candidates are eligible for a fellowship only if they have been admitted to their chosen master’s degree programme and meet all the criteria. Candidates can only apply for a fellowship for one programme per fellowship application deadline. Being admitted to more than one programme with the same fellowship application deadline means that candidates will have to select one programme before applying for a fellowship.
Netherlands After receiving their letter of admission, candidates can apply for an NFP fellowship by presenting a completed NFP master’s degree programme application form (given below to download) to the Netherlands embassy or consulate in their own country, accompanied by the necessary documentation. The application should be submitted well before the deadline for applications. The form can also be obtained from the Netherlands embassy or consulate. Some embassies require applications to be submitted in duplicate. In other countries applications have to be submitted to the embassies through local governmental organizations. Candidates are therefore advised to check any local regulations with the Netherlands embassy in their country. Candidates should forward fellowship application to the Netherlands embassy or consulate in their own country.
The embassy or consulate assesses each application against the criteria listed above. Special attention is given to:
whether the application was submitted before the deadline;
whether the application stems from multi-year agreements made with selected organizations;
whether the candidate has presented a letter of admission to the programme in question;
whether the information accompanying the application is complete and correct, and whether the required documentation (such as passport, diplomas and language test) is in order;
whether the programme is on the list of master’s degree programmes;
whether the programme has added value for the sustainable capacity development of the employing organization and the development of the NFP country;
whether the candidate fulfils any other specific requirements set by the embassy, consulate or country in question.
The embassies and consulates forward the fellowship applications that meet all of the criteria to Nuffic.
Nuffic decides how many fellowships will be available for each programme. The allocation of fellowships between the various programmes is based on the number of eligible applicants for each programme.
The Dutch provider then selects the candidates who will receive fellowships. The provider informs all candidates of its decisions, and applies to Nuffic for a grant.
Nuffic awards the grant for the provider to cover the fellowship holders’ expenses, including the tuition fees.
The Dutch providers pay each fellowship holder a monthly allowance for the duration of the master’s degree programme; they also administer the fellowships, make logistical arrangements, and give guidance to the fellowship holders.
Further Information
Further information is available on
Nuffic website
Downloadable Material
Overview of NFP masters programmes for 2009 (pdf, 332kb, right-click to save)
Application Form for NFP masters programmes 2009 (pdf, 135kb, right-click to save)
Deadlines for Application (pdf, 24kb, right-click to save)
