Nuffic - Den Haag

Sandra O.

Nuffic is een organisatie die zich inzet voor de internationalisering van onderwijs

M D.

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Thijs V. D. V.

Top bedrijf!

P

I’m joining the people before me saying that this institution wrongfully marks degrees as a different level compared to what they really are. In my case, I’m busy with a WO degree and according to nuffic’s website, my degree is indeed a WO degree! However, they categorized it as a HBO degree and aren’t willing to give a reply as to why. This isn’t in compliace with their own descriptions on their website! Customer service colleauge wasn’t willing to understand my problem, she kept on talking about admission to a particular school (?), which wasn’t even part of my inquiry. She either didn’t speak English or wasn’t in the mood to help.

João P.

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the evaluation of my Master's degree by Nuffic more specifically to internationale diplomawaardering. Despite clear evidence (on their website) indicating that my degree from the NOVA University of Lisbon is equivalent to a WO-level degree, Nuffic evaluated it as HBO-level. This has significant implications for my ability to qualify for the 30% ruling, and I believe that this error was made intentionally because after several complaints they seem to don't base their judgments on their own documents.

Their justification for assessing my Master's degree as HBO was that Portugal does not follow the binary education system used in the Netherlands. However, the Nuffic website contains a document outlining the Portuguese education system which explicitly states that it operates under the same binary system as the Netherlands. Furthermore, the document specifies that if the Master's degree was obtained at a university, it should be assessed as a WO-level degree. An HBO should be applied to master’s degrees acquired in Polytechnic institutes which is not my case. As you can see on the link below (page 10):

https://www.nuffic.nl/sites/default/files/2020-08/education-system-portugal.pdf

Lastly, their own document includes (on the last page) a link to the List of Higher Education Institutions, which directs to the DGES website. The evidence available on this website confirms that the NOVA University of Lisbon is a University, therefore is compared to Research Universities (WO). Furthermore, my master’s degree in Data Science and Advanced Analytics is included in the scope of its educational offer (university education).

https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pesquisa_cursos_instituicoes?instituicao=&cursos=m%C
3%A9todos%20anal%C3%ADticos%20avan%C3%A7ados&distrito=&tipo_ensino=&t
ipo_estabelecimento=&area=&tipo_curso=

It is clear that the NOVA University of Lisbon provides University Education, otherwise would be under Polytechnic Education. This leads me to the conclusion that my Master's degree diploma is equivalent to a WO degree, rather than an HBO degree as described in your evaluation.

I call on the Nuffic to ensure that internationale diplomawaardering operates in a transparent and fair manner in all of its evaluations and that individuals are not unfairly denied the benefits they are entitled to.

Simphiwe M.

Advancing cultural exchange on education

Islam D.

Nice

David W.

Nice building