Han van der Horst - NUFFIC

Nuffic, the Netherlands’ Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education, is a Dutch organization that deals with higher education development cooperation, internationalization, international credential evaluation, and the international positioning of Dutch higher education.

In addition to being a member of Nuffic’s communication department, Han van der Horst has written, edited, or co-written various books, such as Low Sky, Understanding The Dutch, Stronger Universities in Africa, and A National History of the Netherlands. Mr. Van der Horst was kind enough to share his insight with WorldStudent on issues of international education.

WS: What is Nuffic’s role in International Education?

H.V.D.H.: Nuffic is the Netherlands’ Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education, founded fifty years ago. Through the years it has grown and acquired more and more tasks. Today our motto is "Linking Knowledge Worldwide". We have four main groups of tasks: 1. development cooperation with a higher education angle. 2. international cooperation between higher education institutes and people in higher education in general; this is about scholarships, institutional cooperation, etc, 3. the evaluation of diplomas and higher education systems and credential evaluation, and 4. promoting studying abroad in the Netherlands, and cooperation with Dutch institutes abroad.

It’s an organization run by a board of directors who represent the three Dutch sectors of higher education. We work for the Dutch government, the E.U. and other international organizations managing cooperation and fellowship programs. If you have an international scholarships program, for example, and you want to have it managed in a professional way according to your rules, think of us.

WS: The Dutch Ministry of Education has described Dutch education as "sober but efficient". Do you think this is an accurate description? Why?

H.V.D.H.: Yes. We are a rich country with an innovative economy, but we wouldn’t have that if our education system wasn’t up to the mark. If you compare the education in the Netherlands with the education in a country like the United States, the important difference is that the main financial actor here is the government; that doesn’t mean however that we have a state education system. The particular thing about Dutch higher education is that both the state and private groups offer education up to all levels, and are treated equally. They are both funded by the Dutch government as long as they set certain standards, which have to do with content, levels, but not with religion. That means, for example, that in the Netherlands you will find Christian universities and schools that are funded totally by the Dutch government, but are run by independent boards.

WS: On your website you say, "Without international cooperation the education community cannot effectively help to increase intercultural understanding or to improve the quality of life in all countries". How does Nuffic contribute to this idea?

H.V.D.H.: We contribute to this idea by acting as a professional organization, and not a lobby organization. We manage programs offering consultancy, helping people to work with foreign diplomas in the Netherlands, giving information on what’s behind the Dutch degree and so on. So we really do help to link knowledge worldwide- one should see that quite literally.

WS: What is your outreach strategy in regards to developing countries? Are there specific countries you reach out to or have reached out to?

H.V.D.H.: We manage many important programs sponsored by the Dutch government that deal with scholarships for students or young professionals from third world countries. We also manage programs that have to do with institutional cooperation; i.e. a Dutch university helping a university in the third world to strengthen itself. The government then gives us that program. It’s Dutch policy that half of its development efforts should benefit sub-Saharan Africa. With our development programs we really want to make a difference. Because we do not think that it would be very effective for a small country like us to do very small things all over the world, most of our national efforts go to twenty-one selected countries. The Dutch government asks for all of those twenty-one countries to define the sectors where they would like our help; it is their choice, not ours. Several of them choose education as one of those sectors, but not all of them. If they choose another sector besides education, that is okay with us.

WS: What does the word "internationalization" mean to you?

H.V.D.H.: "Internationalization" is a Dutch Ministry of Education term, which came up about fifteen years ago that simply means two things: 1. international cooperation of higher education institutes, and 2. the internationalizing of the institutes themselves through curriculum reform, and opening up to foreign students. This is what all those institutes are doing. You’ll see, for example, on our website that there are more than six hundred English language courses in the Netherlands at the higher education level. This is to make our universities and institutes of higher education more accessible for foreigners. Even though our national language is Dutch, the level of English proficiency here is quite high.

WS: What effect do you think E-Learning programs will have on the internationalization of education?

H.V.D.H.: You know, I find this such a difficult question to answer. It is about predicting the future. Of course there is an old tradition of correspondence education in the world, and using the web is just continuing this with other means. On the other hand the experience with Open Universities taught all of us that the best system includes face-to-face contact between students and lecturers in addition to the electronic communication between them. E-learning offers a great many possibilities, but to be really effective it should be more than sending out e-mails and having interactive websites. All over the word institutes of higher education are trying and groping and experimenting and getting things done, but it will take some time before standards can be set. It is new and fresh. It is like walking in the countryside in early spring; you see things growing everywhere, but it is all very small and very green. You have no idea what the crop will be like.

WS: Do you have any advice for students who wish to study in the Netherlands?

H.V.D.H.: If you do not live in Europe and you are thinking of studying in the Netherlands, you should begin by thinking of studying in Europe, and not in any European country in particular. That is why our website is also the gateway to Europe; if you begin at our website, you can surf onto other countries as well as the Netherlands. So, begin with Europe, and then select the country based on the content of what you’re going to be offered. If you want to visit one specific country for the country, not for the very interesting and unique things its education has got of offer, go on a holiday or fall in love with a native.

One thing to keep in mind about the Netherlands is that it’s the major non-native English-speaking importer of books from Britain and the United States in the world. That means that you get CNN and BBC standard in your home, there are British and U.S. newspapers even in village bookshops, and so on. The Netherlands is a very open and cosmopolitan society; this is because of our traditional role as merchants and as a country where one brings goods to be transported further into Europe. Rotterdam is the main port of the world for that reason. The same goes for intellectual goods. When I went to secondary school they taught me English, German and French. The Netherlands is a meeting point of these cultures.

It is important to know that if you live in Amsterdam you can take a train to Paris in four hours, to Brussels in two hours, and to London in five hours. So the Netherlands can be used as a very important springboard to Europe. If you come to Europe to study, make sure to travel to other countries; if you don’t, you’re wasting an enormous opportunity. The Netherlands is the best starting point for your studies abroad experience because of the quality content of its international programs and its geographical location on the continent.

For more information go to Nuffic’s website at: www.nuffic.nl