VSNU

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Dutch Universities innovative education and
Internationalization Prof. Dr. M. Paul,
Prseident, Maastricht University
VSNU
Association of Universities in the Netherlands
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The VSNU represents the shared interests of the
fourteen research universities in terms of their
relation to Dutch and European politicians,
government and civil society organisations
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Dutch Higher Education system
Dutch Research Universities

• Binary system
• University of Applied Sciences (HBO) BA 4 year
• Research University BA 3 year 1 or 2 year MA
• 14 Research Universities and over 50
  Universities of Applied Sciences
• 2002/2003 Introduction BA/MA system
• Netherlands Flemish Accreditation body
•   

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14 Universities
Dutch Research Universities

• Nine broad universities1 Erasmus University
  Rotterdam2 Leiden University 3 Maastricht
  University4 Radboud University Nijmegen5
  Tilburg University6 University of Amsterdam 7
  University of Groningen 8 Utrecht University 9
  VU University Amsterdam

• Universities of technology 10 Delft University
  of Technology11 Eindhoven University of
  Technology12 University of Twente

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• Life sciences and natural resources 13
  Wageningen University and Research Centre

• Distance learning/life-long learning14 Open
  Universiteit Nederland

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World wide reputation

• The incredible strength of the entire Dutch
  higher education system is revealed in the
  traditional World University Rankings with an
  extraordinary 12 of its research universities
  making the world top 200.
• Phil Batey,
• chief editor Times Higher Education Magazine

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Times Higher Eeducation 2012
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Facts and Figures

• Total students 243,686
• Bachelor 159,842
• Master 84,927
• Doctoral (old system) 3,935
• Enrolment 43,515
• Bachelor programmes 419
• Master programmes 846
• Number of PhD thesis 3,700
• Fte Academic staff 22,929

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What makes us unique?

• 14 High-quality research universities in a small
  country
• Integrated teaching and research
• Internationally well connected cooperation with
  leading universities worldwide
• Inter-university cooperation in research and
  graduate education
• Cooperation with private sector, e.g. in
  technological top institutes
• Part of the European higher education and
  research areas and very successful in European
  grant schemes
• University society relations key issue
• University Medical Centres are affiliated with
  the Dutch Research Universities
• Extensive use of English (over 50 of MA
  programmes, majority of courses in Graduate
  Schools, Research groups, Dutch population in
  general)

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Autonomy and Funding

• Funding
• Fixed (indexed) national budget ( 3.7 billion)
• Distributed over 14 universities
• Education 2.3 billion, based on
• fixed sum per university
• student numbers
• graduations
• Research 1.4 billion
• Additional research funding (NWO) approx. 1
  billion
• Autonomy
• Universities have spending autonomy (lump-sum
  financing)
• Collective labour agreement.

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Education
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International classroom
Education

• Focus on talents international employability
  European and global citizenship
• Internationalized curricula Joint and double
  degree
• Exchange and degree seeking students incoming
  and outgoing
• Active outreach through NESO and NUFFIC
• International Dutch alumni network

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Innovative Approach
Education

• Teaching philosophy problem based research
  based including academic skills and a
  professional attitude
• Student centered activating collaborative
  learning
• Focus on excellence and talent development
• Matching teacher qualifications
• IT included in education top notch facilities

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International
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International outlook
Education
High amount of English taught programmes
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International outlook
Education
Foreign students in Dutch higher education
Top 10 amount of foreign students
Foreign student per cycle
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International outlook Russia
Education
Students from Neso target countries
Per sector
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International outlook Russia
Education
Students from Neso target countries per sector
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Excellence in Figures
International

• International rankings
• 6th Global Innovation Index 2012
• 5th Global Competitiveness index 2012-2013
• 4th worldwide citation impact scores
• 2nd worldwide publication productivity
• 2nd worldwide international co-publications
• 8th worldwide number of European patent
  applications granted
• 5th European Research Council Starting grants
• 6th European Research Council Advanced grants
• 6th in FrameworkProgramme 7

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Dutch Universities Russia
International

• Joint programme financed over 350 collaborative
  projects between 1992-2007
• Possibilities for new MoU
• Netherlands Institute in St. Petersburg
• Three leading scientists
• Nuffic-Neso office in Moscow
• VSNU visit to Russia in 2012
• Bilateral Netherlands-Russia year 2013

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Thank you very much!