Nuffic Master’s Fellowships for Developing Countries

Brief description:

The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) are demand-driven fellowship programmes designed to promote capacity building within organizations in 61 developing countries by providing training and education to their mid-career staff members. The NFP is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the development cooperation budget.

The scholarship covers Dutch Master of Arts degree, a Master of Science degree, or a Professional Master’s degree.

Host Institution(s):

Dutch Universities and academic institutions.

Field of study:

The scholarship covers almost every field of study, allowing candidates to receive a postgraduate education and to earn a Dutch Master of Arts degree, a Master of Science degree, or a Professional Master’s degree.  See the Master Degree Programs offered in 2010.

Number of Awards:

The Netherlands’ higher education sector offers a large number of international master’s degree programmes.

Target group:

Students from 61 Developing Countries.  Half of the available fellowships should be awarded to female candidates and the other half should be spent on candidates from sub-Saharan Africa. Apart from this, priority is given to candidates from priority groups and/or from marginalized regions to be defined by the embassies.

Scholarship value/inclusions:

An NFP fellowship is intended to supplement the salary that the fellowship holder should 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. The fellowship can also cover the costs of tuition fees, visas, travel costs, insurance and thesis research.

Eligibility:

If you want to apply for an NFP fellowship for a master’s degree programme you must:

• be a national of and working in one of the selected developing countries;

• 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 master’s degree;

•  have been unconditionally admitted by a Dutch institution to one of the Master’s Degree Programmes on the course list. This means that you 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 your employer, who pledges to continue paying your salary and guarantees that you 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. The Netherlands Embassy decides if an agreement between employer and candidate about partial continuation of salary payments 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 and you have received your tertiary education in any language other than English, you must provide evidence in the form of a score in an internationally recognized test, such as IELTS (with a minimum score of 6.0) or TOEFL (with a minimum score of 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 two 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 you will return to your home country immediately after the study programme has ended;

•  comply with country-specific rules set by the Royal Netherlands Embassy (for more information please contact the Netherlands Embassy or Consulate in your home country).

Application instructions:

The deadline for applications varies per country but generally it falls around February-March each year for the 3rd Quarter round and September-October for the 1st Quarter round. Most of NFP countries has a deadline of 1 October (1st Quarter) and 1 March (3rd Quarter).  See this page for an overview of deadlines per country.

The deadlines for admission to master’s degree programmes vary and can change throughout the year.  You should contact the Dutch institution directly for further information.

*For Sept/Oct intake, the deadline for applications to Universities start 1 February or earlier.  It may occur that the Dutch institution’s deadline for applying for admission to a programme is later than the NFP deadline for fellowship applications.

The application and selection procedure for a master’s degree programme consists of the following nine steps, divided into two phases which is outlined at this page.

It is important to visit the official website (link found below) for detailed information on how to apply for this scholarship.

Contact information:

Nuffic
PO Box 29777
2502 LT The Hague
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 (0)70 – 426 02 60
Fax: +31 (0)70 – 426 03 99
www.nuffic.nl

For more information, please contact the Netherlands Embassy or Consulate in your home country.

Website:

Official Scholarship Website: http://www.nuffic.nl/international-students/scholarships/asia-africa-latin-america-and-eastern-europe/the-netherlands-fellowship-programmes/fellowships-for-master2019s-degree-programmes