Student Mobility

The government welcomes international exchange programmes for students in higher education. By studying or gaining work experience abroad, students enhance their employment opportunities. Moreover, employees with international experience strengthen the Netherlands’ position in the world economy. International mobility also helps boost the quality of education.

Mobility options  

There are three mobility options in higher education:

• diploma/degree mobility: students complete a course in another country and gain a diploma or degree;
• credit mobility: students can also earn credits through study in another country, which count towards their course in the Netherlands, usually through a part-time course or placement;
• programme-based mobility: additional funding programmes such as Erasmus enable students to study or find a placement abroad.

Study Many HBO institutions and universities run exchange programmes with educational institutions abroad for which they are themselves responsible. Students may complete all or part of their course abroad. The trend discernable in the Netherlands is for around 17% of university and HBO students to complete part of their course abroad (credit mobility), and around 2.3% to complete all of their course abroad (diploma/degree mobility). Each year, around 48,000 students go abroad either for work experience or to study. This figure represents nearly 24% of university students and 21% of HBO students. If students have questions they can go to Nuffic. Nuffic helps students, employees, policymakers, administrators and researchers in the higher education sector achieve their international ambitions.

Work experience placements Apart from studying, students attending higher education institutions may also gain work experience through a placement abroad.

Teaching placement in developing countries Students may also fulfil a teaching placement in a developing country, for example through Edukans (only available in Dutch). This is a development organisation which aims to promote primary and secondary education in developing countries. Edukans receives a government grant.

Students studying or fulfilling a work experience placement abroad may usually take their grants and loans with them. The costs of part of the course, placement or research can often be met with a scholarship or grant from a fund. The EU has various mobility programmes through which it allocates grants each year to students who wish to fulfil a work placement or do part of their course abroad. A list of all relevant grants and scholarships can be found in Nuffic’s Grantfinder.

Erasmus+

Erasmus+ (2014-2020) integrates all the international higher education programmes included in the European Lifelong Learning programme (2007-2013) with the other mobility programmes.

Within Key Action 1 of Erasmus+, attention is devoted to the mobility of individual university and HBO students. The main activities are:

• credit mobility, including work experience placements abroad: courses offered in partner countries on a two-way basis;
• degree mobility: high-level joint master’s degree courses provided by universities in Europe;
• student loan guarantee: to promote master’s degree mobility within Europe.

Erasmus Mundus is the funding programme for staff and student mobility between EU and EEA countries and the rest of the world. Various Erasmus Mundus actions (EU Lifelong Learning programme 2007-2013) have been incorporated into the Erasmus+ programme (2014-2020). Support for high-level master’s degree courses will continue under Key Action 1, which promotes the learning mobility of individuals. This includes a specific action to support degree mobility, i.e. excellence in joint master’s degree courses.

Degree/diploma mobility Between 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, the number of Dutch students enrolled at an institution abroad rose to nearly 20,700. Where Dutch students are enrolled for a complete course of study abroad, the host country in nearly 80% of cases is another EU country. In the 2012/2013 academic year, the majority of students with Dutch student finance were to be found in Belgium, with the United Kingdom in second place, followed by the United States, Germany, Sweden and Portugal.

Credit mobility The figure below gives an overview of credit mobility among Dutch students. In 2011 the percentage gaining experience abroad rose by 6% for HBO students and 2% for university (WO) students. In total, 20% of students indicated they had been abroad.

See Nuffic for more information on statistics (only in Dutch available).

Evaluation of diplomas

Foreign diplomas are evaluated to establish their general value in the Netherlands, and to assess their content and level compared to Dutch equivalents.

Foreign qualifications in the Netherlands Graduates may use any academic title acquired abroad in the Netherlands. However, to use a Dutch title (BA/BSc, MA/MSc, Dr/PhD), they need to apply to DUO for permission. Graduates who have studied abroad and have a foreign qualification, but want to work in the Netherlands, will be confronted with the need for professional recognition. For general information on academic and professional recognition procedures and information on procedures for a specific country, go to www.beroepserkenning.nl.

Dutch qualifications abroad For admittance to an educational institution abroad, it may be necessary to have a Dutch qualification evaluated. The institution in question will inform applicants as to which documents they will need. Certificates sometimes have to be legalised. This entails the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) recognising them so that authorities abroad know that they are legal. Only certificates awarded for courses recognised by OCW are eligible for legalisation.

Diploma description (higher education) A diploma description is made out in the name of the holder and describes the Dutch qualification and the Dutch education system. It gives general recommendations as to the qualification to which it can best be compared in the country in question.

Europass

Students fulfilling a work experience placement in another European country may use the Europass. This is a set of documents in which employees and students can record their skills and qualifications. The Europass is an initiative launched by the European Commission to facilitate working and learning within Europe. The Europass is intended not only for students and teachers but also for newly graduated jobseekers.

The Europass may comprise the following documents:

• Europass CV;
• Europass Language Passport;
• Europass Mobility;
• Europass Certificate Supplement;
• Europass Diploma Supplement.

Europass CV The Europass CV is a standard Curriculum Vitae (CV) which is recognised by all EU countries. It can therefore be used for job applications in every EU country. It comprises a standard form on which individuals may list their qualifications and skills. They can download a template from the Europass website and create and update their own Europass CV online.

Europass Language Passport In the Europass Language Passport, individuals list the various European languages of which they have a working knowledge. This is important if they apply for a job for which language skills are needed. A Europass Language Passport can be created online on the Europass website.

Europass Mobility Europass Mobility records knowledge and skills acquired in another European country through, for example, a work experience placement or an academic exchange programme. This mobility document is not created by the person in question, but by the institution they attended or the employer for whom they worked.

Europass Certificate Supplement The Europass Certificate Supplement is a document describing – in English and Dutch – the knowledge and skills acquired by the holders of vocational training certificates. It supplements but does not replace the official certificate. The National Reference Point of the Centre for Cooperation between Vocational Education and Training and the Labour Market (SBB) is responsible for issuing Europass Certificate Supplements.

Europass Diploma Supplement The Europass Diploma Supplement describes the content, level and duration of HBO and university courses, making it easier for employers and educational institutions abroad to assess the value of a qualification. This is particularly useful for people seeking a work experience placement, wanting to study, or applying for a job abroad. The educational institution issuing the diploma is responsible for creating Diploma Supplements. In the Netherlands, it is compulsory for all institutions of higher education to provide them free of charge.

Inbound mobility of foreign students Apart from outbound mobility of Dutch students, it is also interesting to take a look at inbound mobility of foreign students. The action plan ‘Make it in the Netherlands’ was launched in November 2013. It incorporates measures aimed at strengthening international students’ ties with the Netherlands. To achieve this aim, it is important for institutions, students, the business community and other stakeholders to work together.

With a rise from 56,674 in 2011/2012 to 58,453 in 2012/2013, there was again both a relative and an absolute increase in the number of foreign students studying in the Netherlands. Of the total number of students enrolled at government-funded higher education institutions, the percentage of foreign nationals rose from 8.5% to 8.8%. The number of foreign students in government-funded higher education is spread equally between HBO institutions and universities.

Staff mobility in higher education

The Netherlands has no national policy goals or national programmes for staff mobility in higher education. The government leaves it up to the higher education institutions themselves to organise, coordinate and finance their own mobility programmes.

There is no central database containing information on annual participation in such programmes. The situation in relation to university staff is, however, occasionally surveyed and monitored. The agreements between the Association of Universities in the Netherlands and the Council for Higher Professional Education contain regulations on salaries, remuneration and the social security provision applicable to mobility programmes. Individual institutions are responsible for determining the remuneration of staff taking part in international mobility programmes.

Erasmus+

In Erasmus+ staff mobility in higher education is included in Key Action 1. The main activities are:

• Teaching assignments: developing innovative teaching methods, with two-way open mobility for partner countries;
• Professional development: improving skills and competences of both academic and non-academic staff;
• Invited staff from enterprise: raising the curriculum’s relevance.

In the 2010/2011 academic year, 773 teachers working in Dutch higher education institutions spent several months teaching abroad, compared to 709 in 2009/2010 and 592 in 2000/2001. Among the countries participating in the Erasmus programme, the Netherlands ranked 16th for outbound teacher mobility. The majority of Erasmus teachers came from Poland, Spain, Germany and France. For Dutch teachers participating in the programme, Germany, Belgium, Finland and the United Kingdom were the most popular countries, followed by Spain and France.

In the framework of the Erasmus staff mobility programme, 207 people underwent training abroad in the 2010/2011 academic year, compared to 114 in 2009/2010. The receiving countries were chiefly the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, France and Italy.