Going abroad!
In the new academic year three Codarts students will continue their education at an institute abroad, aided by a scholarship from the Huygens Scholarship Programme. Seventeen foreign students will attend Codarts in Rotterdam on another scholarship from the same programme. All students concerned are at the top of their discipline.
The Huygens Scholarship Programme is one of many scholarship programmes that are managed by Nuffic, a Dutch organisation for international collaboration in higher education seated in the Hague. With the motto Linking Knowledge Worldwide, Nuffic, partly commissioned by the Dutch government, aims at facilitating students in studying at an institute outside their own country. Comparing educational programmes and diplomas internationally is one of Nuffic’s activities.
The Huygens Scholarship Programme, whose aim it is to bring in, keep, send out and develop top students, has two sub-programmes: 1) the Huygens International Talents (INT) programme for excellent foreign students who wish to study in the Netherlands, and 2) the Huygens Netherlands Talents (NL) programme for excellent Dutch students who wish to gain international study experience. For the academic year 2010-2011, the fifth year of the Huygens Scholarship Programme, Nuffic received a total of over 2,030 scholarship applications. 347 of these have been accepted.
The Huygens INT programme is open to students from any country in the world. Scholarships are awarded for a period of at least six and at most twenty-four months and are intended for excellent foreign students who wish to complete the last stage of a Bachelor programme or a Master programme in the Netherlands. The most important requirement is that applicants have performed above average. Students must also have obtained a preliminary diploma (secondary school or higher) and must use the scholarship to follow a programme in the Netherlands at Bachelor level (final stage) or Master level.
The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) has made € 7 million available for taking in talented students. The scholarship consists of a generous compensation for tuition fees, a monthly allowance of € 1,380, compensation for legal dues and costs of visa, and a once-only reimbursement of international travel expenses. The number of scholarships is not fixed.
The most important condition for being awarded a scholarship from the Huygens NL programme is that the student belongs to the absolute top. The study or research programme that he or she will undertake abroad must be a Bachelor programme in the final stage or a Master programme that fits in with their study in the Netherlands. The study abroad should take up at least six and at most twenty-four months. Students must also be Dutch nationals or meet the requirements for receiving Dutch student grants.
The Ministry of OCW has made € 3 million available for sending out talented students. The number of scholarships depends on the size of the awarded scholarships. The scholarship consists of a generous compensation for tuition fees, a contribution towards the cost of living, insurance costs and legal dues, and a once-off standard contribution in travel expenses.
On May 27, at a festive gathering, Codarts students Guillermo Blinker (Rotterdam Dance Academy), Jorg Delfos (Rotterdam Classical Music Academy) and Ermis Savantoglu (Rotterdam World Music Academy) could collect their scholarship certificate from the Huygens NL programme. Miguel Garcia Rodriguez (also from the Rotterdam World Music Academy) is on the standby list, for the time being.
In the upcoming academic year, Blinker will attend the Broadway Dance Center in New York, Delfos will study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and Savantoglou at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Garcia Rodriguez’ ambition is to go to the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development in New York.
The seventeen foreign students who will either begin or continue their studies in music or dance at Codarts next September are expected in the Hague after the summer holidays to collect their scholarship from the Huygens INT programme.
Extensive information about Nuffic and the Huygens Scholarship Programme can be found at www.nuffic.nl. At Codarts, Asia Ross is the person to see about these scholarships (jmross@codarts.nl).
Guillermo Blinker (top photo) and Ermis Savantoglu with their scholarship certificates from the Huygens NL programme. Next to them are Trude Maas-de Brouwer, chairperson of the evaluation committee, and Sander van den Eijnden, Director-General of Nuffic. Jorg Delfos was not able to attend the ceremony. Photos Hans Hordijk.
