Nyenrode University: students have top EQ

Nyenrode students score highest among Dutch students in emotional intelligence (EQ). This is shown by results from the Q-Master test by Nobiles magazine. In the election for the best student in the Netherlands, average scores for EQ and IQ were set for universities and colleges of higher education. Nyenrode came in fourth in the combined ranking for EQ and IQ scores behind the three technical universities. Professor Dr Jack van der Veen, Associate Dean and Nyenrode Program Director Degree Programs: “These results again go to show the reasoning behind our selection at the gate, in which emotional intelligence weighs heavily... Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

Amsterdam slips in latest quality of life ranking

While deemed the 3rd best capital city for 'quality of living' in the EU, the Dutch capital has nevertheless slipped a place from 12th to 13th in worldwide rankings, the latest survey conducted by HR consulting firm Mercer. Some 215 cities are covered by Mercer's 2006 quality of living survey, which is intended to help governments and multinationals in sending employees on international assignments.

Each city's rating is based on an evaluation of 39 criteria, including political, social, economic and environmental factors, personal safety and health, education, transport and other public services.

Cities are ranked against New York as the base city, which has an index score of 100. The world's top three cities remain unchanged from last year, with Zürich in first place with 108.2 points, slightly ahead of Geneva with 108.1, while Vancouver follows in third place with a score of 107.7. At the other end of the spectrum, Baghdad is the lowest-ranking city in the survey, scoring just 14.5 in a position unchanged from 2005.

Cities in Europe, Canada and Australia dominate the upper echelons of the rankings. In the US, 27th-placed Honolulu (down two places from 2005) is the top scorer with 103.2 points, while Houston is the lowest in 68th, unchanged from last year, with a tally of 95.4. London is the UK's highest-ranking city and is stable at position 39 (score 101.2).

The two other UK cities covered in the survey are Birmingham and Glasgow, which both score 98.3 and climb one place to joint 55th position. Although it slipped one place in the world rankings, Amsterdam's score remained unchanged at 105.7. The Belgian capital Brussels also maintained last year's score of 105.6.

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University of Amsterdam: slide show

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Discount for University van Amsterdam alumni

The Business School is proud to announce that 'The Amsterdam MBA', which has started successfully in September 2005, will be able to offer a special discount for UvA alumni. All alumni accepted in the MBA will receive a 25% discount on the total tuition fee once they enrol in either the the full-time or part-time programme. The programme, characterised by its rigour, relevance to the business world and its renowned faculty, can be completed in one year full-time or two years (one day a week) part-time. For more information please contact the International Office at MBA@uva.nl.

University Twente: new European Studies program

In September the UT will start a new bachelor's program: European Studies. This all-English language program should open the door for students from `all over the world.' Right now, the UT only offers a master's program in European Studies, a graduate program in which mostly public administration students participate. Program Director Ramses Wessel sees a growing national and international - mostly from Germany - demand for European Studies. Wessel: `Germany is one of the markets at which this bachelor's is targeted primarily, although we obviously welcome students from all over the world.' Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

University of Maastricht won of the European Law Moot Court Competition

Maastricht law four-time winner of the European Law Moot Court Competition.On Friday 31 March, a student team from the UM Faculty of Law won the finals of the European Law Moot Court Competition, which took place in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Their opponents in the final round were teams from the universities of Cologne, Leuven and Zagreb. All four universities reached the final via a series of qualifying rounds. Over 90 universities from all over the world sent student teams to compete in this prestigious law pleading competition. Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

Easier access for foreign researchers and students to the Netherlands

The Dutch government has decided to ease restrictions on foreign researchers and students who want to pursue internships in the Netherlands. An earlier amendment to Dutch law was unsatisfactory, said minister Brinkhorst, speaking in parliament. In 2004, a special desk was set up at the Immigration & Naturalization Department especially for foreigner PhD candidates, post-docs and university instructors, under the age of 30. If these highly educated professionals meet the salary conditions for 'knowledge workers' (45,000 euro per year before taxes), they do not have to first apply for a CWI work permit from the Dutch Labor department to work in the Netherlands. Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

Dutch border universities fear an exodus

The five border universities - the universities of Twente, Tilburg, Groningen, Maastricht and Nijmegen - sent an open letter to the Lower House calling for the preservation of the Raulin grant. State Secretary of Education Rutte plans to scrap this provision - which allows European students to get funding for seventy percent of their tuition fees - in 2007. The universities fear an exodus of EU students. The new student grant system proposed by Rutte allows each student to borrow the money for their tuition from the government. Students from other EU countries also qualify for this arrangement, rendering the Raulin grant system redundant for this group, according to the state secretary, because the loan system meets the European rules for student cost compensation. Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

Kazakhstan's Bolashak scholarship programme

Bolashak, meaning ‘future’ in Kazakh, is the name given to the International Presidential Scholarships Programme, which has been running since 1993. The Bolashak Programme is administered by the JSC Centre for International Programme of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Education and Science. In the past ten years, more than 800 Kazakh Bolashak scholars have earned a master’s degree in another country. Recently, the Government of Kazakhstan decided to expand the budget for the programme substantially. The aim of the programme is to contribute to the training of specialists in fields which the Kazakh government consider priority areas. These include economics, business studies, international relations, law, agriculture and technology. Bolashak scholarships provide funding for a full programme of study at the bachelor, master or PhD level at a university in a foreign country, including the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

CHN: Department of Social Work accredited by the NVAO

The CHN University Department of Social Work (SPH) has officially been accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of The Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO). This accreditation had not been granted after an earlier evaluation in the spring of 2005. Subsequently CHN started a process of improvement, which resulted in a positive evaluation. In this evaluation, which took place last fall, SPH received a sufficient score on all 21 evaluation subjects.On 13 of the subjects the score was above average. With this outstanding result our SPH is back in the top-5 ranking of SPH courses in the Netherlands. Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

Univerisity of Amsterdam: Double degree with Universitat Pompeu Fabra

The Faculty of Economics and Business of the Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA) will be offering a double MSc degree in Organization Economics together with the the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona (UPF) as of September 2006. Students of the BSc Economic and Business of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) have the opportunity of spending the third year of their BSc and consecutively the first year of the two-year MSc programme Organization Economics at UPF. After successfully completing their first year at UPF – and thus their final year of the BSc - they will receive a BSc degree from the UvA and enrol in the MSc Business Economics of the UvA. Read more: Eurogates. Forum of education news

University of Amsterdam: Accreditation for Master in International Finance

The Board of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) has been notified that three of the international programmes of the Amsterdam Business School have received NVAO (Dutch Flemish Accreditation Organisation) accreditation. The programmes concerned are the Master in International Finance, The Amsterdam MBA and the Master in International Management and Sustainability. The decision by NVAO means that the international programmes of the ABS are among the first programmes in The Netherlands to obtain this kind of accreditation for its post-initial Master programmes Source: Amsterdam Graduate Business School

Education Council calls for international high education

More secondary education students should be able to choose an international curriculum. The Education Council is therefore calling for complete, international curricula within the regular education system. This was one of the conclusions of a recently published advisory report entitled Learning Pathways and the International Baccalaureate (‘Internationale Leerwegen en het Internationale Baccalaureaat’). The Education Council also found that internationalization is still at an early stage of development. It is therefore important that international variants are developed. The Council set out four possible learning pathways, varying from highly internationalized to a regular curriculum with an international dimension. The idea is to have international variants of subjects on offer, an international profile in the second phase of advanced secondary education (havo, vwo), an international learning pathway in vocational secondary education (vmbo), and international variants of Dutch diplomas. Read more: Eurogates.Forum

One master’s programme for three countries

Delft University of Technology, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and RWTH Aachen University have joined forces. In September 2006, the three institutions will launch a joint two-year master’s programme in applied geophysical sciences. What’s special about the new programme is that despite the differences in the education systems of the partners, they have developed a single set of examination regulations and a single curriculum. Students will study in Delft for five months, in Zurich for five months and in Aachen for five months. The final half-year will be spent doing research, and students are free to choose which institution they will attend during that period. “In terms of course content, it was not difficult to put a programme together,” Professor Kees Wapenaar of Delft’s Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences told us. Read more: Eurogates.Forum

Europass makes students more mobile

Europass is an initiative of the European Commission and was officially launched in the Netherlands last December. Europass is a passport for training and work experience that ensures transparency and uniformity in the way that people’s diplomas, certificates and competences are presented. This makes it easier, for example, to evaluate foreign qualifications. The passport is free and is designed to promote occupational mobility amongst students and workers in the EU. Europass consists of five documents. Read more: Eurogates.Forum

The Netherlands: brain drain

Half of all young researchers want to go abroad once they’ve finished their PhD or postgraduate studies. They see it as a necessary step because of the lack of career opportunities in the Netherlands. This was the conclusion of a study conducted on behalf of two Dutch bodies representing PhD and other postgraduate students (Promovendi Netwerk Nederland, PNN, and the Landelijke Postdoc Platform, LPP). PhD students consider their options at Dutch universities to be rather bleak. They hope that universities in other countries will offer them better prospects. Three out of ten PhD students and one in ten postgraduate students said that they definitely wanted to go abroad. Almost half (46%) of young academics would consider a position at a foreign university if career opportunities or a permanent post at a Dutch university were to prove unforthcoming. A clear majority of researchers thought they were suitable for an international career. Read more: Eurogates.Forum

HAN University: Master of International Business

Just recently, the degree programme Master of International Business (MIB) received accreditation by the FIBAA, the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation. This recognition now implies that HAN University of Applied Sciences, which offers the MIB, can now award an internationally recognised Masters degree to students who have successfully completed the programme. The MIB is the first applied sciences Masters degree in economics in the Netherlands to receive accreditation. The FIBAA accreditation underscores the international quality standard of the MIB programme. This will have a beneficial effect on cooperation and exchange with universities abroad. It gives credibility to the MIB’s ambition to become an internationally sought after qualification. In addition to the FIBAA accreditation, a recommendation has been made by the visiting authorities to the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO). Approval by the NVAO is expected at the beginning of 2006. Read moreEurogates.Forum

Tilburg University: Faculty of Arts improves student exchange

The Faculty of Arts plans to sign cooperation agreements with education partners in other countries. In September 2006, several compulsory bachelor's subjects will disappear to make it easier for students to study abroad. This is in accordance with the concept policy plan, which was discussed by the faculty's management education team last Thursday. The idea is to enter into detailed agreements with foreign universities about courses students from the future partner universities can take while on exchange. This way, students won't have to ask permission for each subject. At the moment, the faculty is considering different partner candidates. General Culture Studies is looking for possible partnerships with universities in Leuven (Belgium) and Durban (South-Africa), while Communication and Information Studies is examining the possibilities of collaborations with universities in Australia, London, Turkey, Antwerp, Oslo, and South Af Read more: Eurogates.Forum

Tilburg University:law students want more optional subjects

Three quarters of the law students would like to have more subjects to choose from in bachelor's programmes. One optional subject is not enough, in their opinion. Moreover, students would like to keep the subsidies for study travels abroad, and have more subjects in English. This is the outcome of an Internet poll held by student fraction Vrijspraak among 219 law students. According to the poll results, the law students are opposed to the plan of the education board to abolish the subject Internationalization. If this subject is abolished, students will no longer be able to use three credit points for a study trip, for an open or free series of lectures with an international theme in Tilburg, or to choose an optional subject, for instance, at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. A subsidy of 250 euros used to be available for the study trip. Vrijspraak will do its best to keep the subsidy, although it might be lowered, said chairman of Vrijspraak, Rende Jan Hop. Read:Eurogates.Forum