Netherlands International Scholarships 2009

HSP Huygens Programme

The prestigious HSP Huygens Programme is open to excellent students from all countries of the world. It is aimed at talented students who want to come to the Netherlands in the final phase of their bachelor’s studies or during their master’s studies.

PhD applications can only be accepted from excellent students with the Croatian or Turkish nationality. Furthermore the minister has reserved part of the total budget for excellent students following programmes in Dutch language and literature, or Neerlandistiek.

Excellence

The Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science has made seven million euros available for excellent students coming to the Netherlands under the HSP Huygens Programme. There is no fixed number of available scholarships, but the actual number is determined by the total cost of the variable components of the scholarships.

Applications for the 2009-2010 academic year must be sent to Nuffic before 1 February 2009 at the latest.

If you want to take part in the HSP Huygens Programme, you must meet the following requirements.

• You are an excellent student: you have obtained excellent results in all your previous studies and you are in the top 10% of students in your study or research programme.
• You must have already attended a programme of education (e.g. high school or above) in a country outside the Netherlands.
• The Dutch study programme should be registered in CROHO, the Central Register of Higher Education Programmes. You can find this information in the Dutch nomination letter.
• You should be in the final phase of your bachelor’s studies, or studying towards a master’s degree in the Netherlands, and your study must be used primarily to earn a degree at the Dutch institution.
• At the start of the academic year (1 September) in which you study in the Netherlands, you must be no older than 35 years of age.
• Scholarships are only awarded for studies lasting at least 6 months, but no longer than 24 months.
• Your studies or research in the Netherlands must constitute a deepening and broadening of your previous studies.
• If you are already a graduate, you must have graduated less than two years ago.
• If you want to do research or practical training, it is possible, but it must form part of your studies (a programme on the CROHO list), i.e. you must earn study credits for it.
• Scholarships are only awarded for an MPhil programme if this programme leads to the award of a Dutch master’s degree.

Scholarship outline

The Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science has made seven million euros available for international excellent students coming to the Netherlands under the HSP Huygens Programme.

There is no fixed number of available scholarships, but the actual number is determined by the total cost of the variable components of the scholarships.

Important: the 2009-2010 academic year starts on 1 September 2009. All scholarships awarded will start from that date, and not earlier. A later scholarship start date is possible, however.

The scholarships include the following components:

• A generous reimbursement of tuition fees or a contribution towards the costs of the PhD thesis, as estimated in the research proposal.
• A monthly allowance of € 900 (this includes a standard contribution towards healthcare insurance).
• Visa fees (standard contribution).
• A one-off payment towards international travel costs (standard contribution based on nationality).

The average value of scholarships awarded in 2008 was € 27,000

Further Info
http://www.nuffic.nl/international-students/scholarships/worldwide/hsp-huygens-programme