Nuffic

Wittenborg helps Neso Russia celebrate its 10th anniversary in Moscow, whilst strengthening ties with its partners in Moscow. Yesterday saw around 15 Dutch research and applied science universities join the Nuffic in Moscow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Netherlands Education Support Office (Neso) in Moscow.

Internationalisation in Dutch higher education has been dealt a major setback after it became public this week that the government is planning a substantial cut in the subsidy it gives to Nuffic - the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, which has been operating since 1952.

Representatives from Nuffic Neso Mexico, China, North Korea and Vietnam visited several institutions in the Netherlands, including Wittenborg, to learn what they offer international students, whilst providing valuable insights on student mobility in their own countries.

Dutch universities have been consistently successful in drawing huge numbers of international students. Now they want to focus more on attracting quality students from abroad, rather than sheer quantity.

The share of international students in the Netherlands has risen from 10.5% to 11.5% the past year with Italy overtaking China as the 2nd biggest country of origin after Germany.

The Dutch are considering a travel card for international students to give them a discount on public transport after a successful trial in 2018 involving five universities and four universities of applied sciences. About 3,000 of these special OV-chipcards were issued. Another test run across the country will be done in the next academic year.

Nuffic, the agency promoting Dutch higher education abroad, held a successful workshop on social media and storytelling with its Study in Holland student ambassadors at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences' campus in Apeldoorn recently.

Limited resources have been cited among the reasons for Nuffic's decision to close its NESO Thailand office at the end of the 2018. Wittenborg will attend the Dutch Placement Days in Bangkok on 15 November.

Dutch universities have once again scored well in one of the most influential ranking lists in the world, the 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings - with 12 of its 13 universities in the top 200.