On 24 August, international students sat around the table at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol for a festive Holland Scholarship breakfast. The Holland Scholarship is a new scholarship programme from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, OCW) that provides talented students with a financial stimulus in order to study or do an internship abroad for a period of time. Scholarship students from the Amsterdam School of the Arts (AHK), including Conservatorium van Amsterdam (Conservatory of Amsterdam) student Nicolae Stiuca from Moldavia, also pulled up a chair next to OCW minister Bussemaker.

The students were welcomed by Freddy Weima, Director-General of EP-Nuffic. Minister Jet Bussemaker presented the certificates of the scholarship programme, also to Nicolae Stiuca. He is extremely proud to be the first student in Moldavia who is able to study in his specialised field in the Netherlands. 

Nicolae is going to do the Bachelor’s in Classical Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, with accordion as his main subject. He had searched for the study programme with the best reputation in his field worldwide. In April, he came to audition and he was delighted to be accepted. Nicolae also hopes to do a Master’s degree, and later become a teacher and soloist. After the breakfast, he immediately left for his Dutch language course, which he had booked upon arrival. Nicolae: “I want to speak the language here, and be able to talk to people about my music.”

The Holland Scholarships have gone from plan on paper to concrete reality within a year, and it is also a two-way process. Holland Scholarships have been awarded to ten incoming exchange students and three outgoing exchange students at the AHK.

Information about outgoing Holland Scholarships at the AHK
Information about incoming Holland Scholarships at the AHK

Source: ScienceGuide.nl