Netherlands Fellowship Programmes

PhD 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 Jun 2009 and 1 Oct 2009

Requirements for eligibility

A candidate applying for an NFP fellowship for a PhD degree programme must:be a national of and working in one of the 57 developing countries have been unconditionally admitted to a Dutch institution as a PhD student. This means that the applicant must have met all the academic requirements set by the Dutch university or institute;have completed an NFP PhD Study application form and have submitted all the required documentation to the Netherlands embassy or consulate;
offer proof that the PhD will be pursued according to a ‘sandwich’ or ‘picnic’ model, which means that a large portion of the PhD research will take place in the candidate’s home country;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 after the termination 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 realized, 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 their own to finance staff training;offer evidence that he or she is sufficiently skilled in speaking and writing in the language of communication during the PhD, which may be English, French or Spanish. 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 English, and for candidates who have previously attended a course or programme at a Dutch educational institution in this language, but no longer than two years ago;be available full–time to pursue the PhD without interruption, 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 period of study and research in the Netherlands 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 consists of the following steps:Application for admission at a Dutch educational institutionCandidates must first apply for academic admission at an eligible Dutch institution. Admission as a PhD student is granted on an individual basis. Senior academic staff or a specific PhD committee decides whether or not an applicant will be accepted. Usually the assessment is based on the research proposal submitted by the applicant. A candidate can apply for a PhD fellowship only after a research proposal has been agreed between the candidate and the Dutch provider.Application for a fellowshipAfter receiving their letter of admission, candidates can apply for an NFP fellowship by presenting a completed NFP PhD Study application form to the Netherlands embassy or consulate in the candidate’s own country, accompanied by the necessary documentation. The form can also be obtained from the Netherlands embassy or consulate.

Candidates should send their fellowship application forms directly to 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 stems from a multi-year agreement concluded with selected organizations;the relevance of the proposed research for the candidate’s organization and country;proof that the candidate’s employer and the Dutch institution support the application.The embassies and consulates forward the fellowship applications that meet all of the criteria to Nuffic.Nuffic selects the candidates who will receive PhD fellowships based on the relevance of the proposed research for the candidate’s employing organization and home country.Nuffic informs the candidate, the Dutch embassy and the providing institution of its decision.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 onNuffic website

Downloadable Material
Eligible Dutch Institutions for NFP PhD fellowships, 2009 (pdf, 36kb, right-click to save)
PhD Application Form for NFP fellowships (pdf, 84kb, right-click to save)
Deadlines for Application (pdf, 24kb, right-click to save)