The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP)

The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) are fellowship programmes initiated and fully funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the budget for Development Cooperation.

Aim NFP
The overall aim of the NFP is to help alleviate qualitative and quantitative shortages of skilled manpower within a wide range of governmental, private and non-governmental organisations. This by offering fellowships to mid- career professionals to improve the capacity of their employing organisations. The need for training has to be evident within the context of an organisation. This implicates that candidates have to be nominated by their employers. Applications without employer support are considered not eligible.

Target group
The NFP is targeted at mid-career professionals who are nationals of and working and living in one of the 60 NFP countries. Candidates from Sub-Saharan Africa, women and members of priority groups and/or marginalised regions are specifically invited to apply for an NFP fellowship. This because 50% of the available fellowships will be awarded to females and 50% of the available budget will be awarded to candidates from Sub-Saharan Africa. Beside this, candidates from priority groups and/or marginalised regions (to be defined by the embassies) are explicitly invited to apply.

Country-specific priorities
Next to the general eligibility criteria an embassy or consulate may develop its own country-specific priorities. These reflect the preferences of the embassy or consulate for certain applications.

These priorities can be of influence on the selection process. For these reasons, candidates are advised to check at the embassy or on the embassy’s website if country-specific priorities apply.

NFP sub-programmes
The NFP offers the following options:

Individual fellowships for:

master’s degree programmes;
short courses;
PhD studies.

Subsidies for alumni activities:

Refresher courses (for NFP, NPT, NICHE and MENA alumni);
NAA start-up grants (for NFP alumni);
Co-financing of NFP alumni activities.

Gender policy
The Dutch policy regarding development cooperation gives specific importance to gender and sexual & reproductive health and rights. The NFP gives attention to this gender policy by highlighting the extent to which gender is part of the courses and programmes on the NFP Course List. There are four categories:

The subject of the programme is gender-oriented (e.g. gender in the programme title);
The programme contains several compulsory modules dealing with gender dimensions;
Gender-oriented modules are available, but not compulsory. The programme content is not explicitly gender-oriented and no attention is paid to gender;
The subject of the programme is not gender-oriented. It is not possible to include gender-oriented modules.

The fellowship
An NFP fellowship is intended to supplement the salary that the fellowship holder must continue to receive (at least partially) during the study period. The allowance is considered to be a contribution towards the cost of living for one person, whether in the Netherlands or in another country. A fellowship holder can therefore be faced with additional expenses (for instance extra costs for housing). Fellowship holders are adviced to check with the Dutch institution if this can be the case for them. It should be noted that NFP allowances are not sufficient to support family members, either in the home country or in the Netherlands.

The fellowship can cover the costs of tuition fees, visas, travel, insurance and thesis research, as specified in the NFP Rules and regulations for fellowship holders. This can be downloaded at www.nuffic.nl/nfp. Different conditions may apply to e-learning courses or e-learning programmes. These conditions are also listed in the NFP Rules and Regulations.

An NFP fellowship is granted for the duration of the course or programme. Whilst the individual candidates are selected for a fellowship, the grants are awarded to the Dutch higher education institutions to enable the fellowship holders to pursue the chosen sub-programme.

There are restrictions to the total number of fellowships candidates can receive. Candidates are not eligible for a fellowship if a candidate applying for:

an NFP master’s degree fellowship has already received an NFP fellowship for a master’s degree;
an NFP PhD fellowship has already received an NFP-PhD fellowship;
an NFP SC fellowship has already received two NFP SC fellowships or has, a year prior to the application already received an NFP SC fellowship.

In addition, a candidate employed by one of the following organisations is not eligible:

a multinational corporation (for instance Shell, Unilever etc.) or
a large national and/-or commercial organisation or
a bilateral donor organisation (for instance USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid etc.) or
a multilateral donor organisation, (for instance a UN organisation, theWorld Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB, etc.) or
an international NGO (for instance civil society organisations, Oxfam, Plan, Care, etc.)

Regional programmes and courses
The NFP Course List also contains master’s degree programmes and short courses that take place, either fully or partly, in one of the NFP countries, for example joint or double degree programmes. In these cases, the Dutch institution and its partner institution in the NFP country jointly deliver the programme. These programmes and courses are open to all candidates, as long as the programme / course is relevant to the candidate’s employing organisation and country.

Parties involved

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs fully funds the Netherlands Fellowship Programmes under the development cooperation budget.

The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP)
The Netherlands embassies and consulates assess all applications for fellowships for master’s degree programmes, short courses and PhD studies and can formulate specific recommendations for further processing. They apply the general eligibility criteria. In addition, they may define a policy with country-specific priorities appropriate to the local situation.

Nuffic
Nuffic is the Netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education1. As an independent, non-profit organisation based in The Hague, the Netherlands, Nuffic supports internationalisation in higher education, research and professional education in the Netherlands and abroad, and helps to improve access to higher education worldwide.

The NFP programmes are managed and administered by Nuffic. Nuffic guides the candidate selection process for fellowships for master’s degree programmes, short courses and PhD programmes. Nuffic drafts the lists of programmes and courses for which NFP fellowships can be used. Nuffic also selects candidates for PhD fellowships and evaluates proposals for refresher courses.

Dutch education institutions
The Dutch institutions involved in the NFP are higher education institutions or other organisations in the Netherlands specialising in transferring knowledge and skills at a post-secondary level. The master’s degree programmes and short courses listed in this brochure and the PhD study programmes are all offered by Dutch institutions. These have been assessed on their capacity to receive and teach students or professionals from various backgrounds.

The institutions assess whether candidates are academically qualified to take part in a particular programme, course or training. They administer the NFP fellowships for all four sub-programmes. They also arrange the logistics and provide guidance for fellowship holders. For all matters concerning their fellowship the fellowship holders must contact the relevant Dutch institution.

More information
Up-to-date information can be found at www.nuffic.nl/nfp. Specific conditions might apply in different countries. Nuffic strongly advises candidates to check the website of the Netherlands embassy in their own country before they start the NFP application procedure.