A Level Playing Field - Dutch Ministry of Education issues a letter entitled “Recognized Providers of Higher Education in the Netherlands”

Dutch Ministry of Education issues a letter entitled “Recognized Providers of Higher Education in the Netherlands” – a tribute to Wittenborg working together with its partners in the NRTO* to promote a level playing field within international higher education offered in the Netherlands. The letter refers to the list of all recognized institutes in the Netherlands, which includes Wittenborg, and is aimed at being used to help inform students and interested parties of the status of recognition and accreditation that these Dutch institutes maintain.

Competition between institutes in international education is intense, especially in the field of business, economics and management, and rivalry between schools to attract the best students is often a drive to develop, nurture and promote quality in higher education. Prospective students look at aspects such as ranking, accreditation, recognition and word of mouth reputation; however advice from study abroad agencies, and local government representation is also important.

Many governments, in countries where study abroad is popular, publish lists of recognized institutes per country; however these lists are often outdated or not complete. Students are always reluctant to enroll on courses at institutes that are not seen as officially recognized by the host country, and find it difficult to understand the local higher education issues and promotion, even when in that host country, such as the Netherlands, there is little understanding of the various “lists” maintained around the world.

Through its membership of the Netherlands Association of Training and Education (NRTO) that recently signed a long-term agreement with the State Secretary for Education regarding the position of independently funded Universities and Universities of Applied Science, Wittenborg has worked with the Netherlands Ministry of Education to produce this letter. In the first instance, Wittenborg will use the letter to promote Dutch Higher Education towards all the embassies from the countries from which its current students originate (currently around 50) and towards agencies and partner institutes in key countries around the world. By doing this, Wittenborg believes that it will help create a more even (if not completely level) playing field within the Netherlands’ International Higher Education.

*Netherlands Association of Training and Education – www.nrto.nl

WUP 03/03/12