The Comenius programme enables lecturers to put their vision of education (innovation) into practice. By visibly valuing excellent and inspired teaching, the government explicitly wants to contribute to more varied careers of teachers and researchers at colleges and universities.
Three scholarships exist within the programme:
Comenius Teaching Fellow: for education professionals with at least two years of teaching experience who want to innovate at course level. The project runs for 18 months and the maximum grant is €50,000. There is no limit to the number of applications that can be submitted for a Teaching Fellow.
Read the call for proposals for the Teaching Fellows of 2025 here.
Comenius Senior Fellow: for education professionals with at least five years of teaching experience who want to innovate at programme or faculty level. The project runs for a maximum of 30 months and the maximum grant is €100,000. One application for a Senior Fellow may be submitted per faculty. Enquire about the internal procedure at your faculty.
Read the call for proposals for the Senior Fellows of 2025 here.
Comenius Leadership Fellow: for education professionals with at least 7 years of teaching experience who will set up and implement an interfaculty project or an institution-level project. The maximum duration is 42 months and the maximum grant is €500,000. One application for a Leadership Fellow may be submitted per educational institution.
Read the call for proposals for the Leadership Fellows of 2025 here.
Proposals on Teaching Fellow and Senior Fellow level should be submitted to the NRO within one of the four themes listed below:
Please check the calls for proposals for a more elaborate explanation of the themes.
The deadlines for the Teaching Fellows are as follows:
| Date | What | Who |
| September 10th 2024, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: submission statements of intent | Main applicant |
| October 8th 2024, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: submission pre-proposals | Main applicant |
| January 21st 2025, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: submission full proposals | Main applicant |
The deadlines for the Senior Fellows are as follows:
| Date | What | Who |
| September 3d 2024, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: submission statements of intent | Main applicant |
| October 1st 2024, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: submission pre-proposals | Main applicant |
| January 14th 2025, beforfe 14:00 hours | Deadline: submission full proposals | Main applicant |
As only 1 Leadership Fellow proposal may be submitted per educational institution, the VU uses an internal nomination round within the VU. In this internal nomination round, the VU jury Comenius & Dutch Education Award decides which application is most suitable to submit. Interested teams may submit a draft application to their faculty.
Please note: Each faculty is allowed 1 submission for the VU internal selection process. The Faculty of Science is an exception and may make 2 submissions. As each faculty is only allowed a limited number of submissions for the VU-wide internal selection procedure, it is important that those who are interested make their intention to apply known to their faculty. In case of multiple applicants, the faculty will ultimately decide who will be submitted for the VU-wide internal pre-selection procedure.
The faculties will submit their chosen draft application to secretary of the Education Awards Kristel Struiksma no later than the 24th of May 2024. The VU jury Comenius & NOP will assess the draft applications and decide who will be nominated to the NRO on behalf of the VU. The winner will then be given time to develop the draft application into a final application and will receive support for this from the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
Below is the schedule for the internal pre-selection process and support from VU for the Comenius Leadership Fellow of 2025.
| Date | What | Who |
| End of February 2024 | Call for submission of draft applications by secretary and to faculty boards/KIK. Interested parties can contact the CTL for substantive advice. | Education policy c.c. CTL |
| March-May | Start disseminating information within faculties - start substantive advice CTL | Faculties c.c. CTL |
| May 24th 2024 | Deadline for submission of draft applications by faculty boards. Draft applications are submitted to secretary Education Awards from the Education Policy team. | Education policy c.c. CTL |
| Mid-June 2024 | Jury deliberation: preliminary discussion, announcement of shortlist | VU jury Comenius & NOP |
| End of June 2024 | Jury deliberations: interview round with shortlisted candidates | VU jury Comenius & NOP |
| Beginning July 2024 | Secretary Education Awards communicates result of jury deliberation to candidates. | Education policy |
| From 1 September 2024 - mid-October | Winner develops draft application with help from CTL. | CTL |
| September 5th 2024, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: leader of selected team submits letter of intent via NRO's electronic portal (ISAAC). | Leader selected team |
| First week of October | Agreement on nomination letter by rector magnificus. | Education policy |
| October 17th 2024, before 14:00 hours | Deadline: leader of the winning team submits the final application via NRO's electronic portal (ISAAC). | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| End of January 2025 | Follow-up: applicant receives preliminary advice from NRO, drafts rebuttal, and links back to Education Policy Secretary. | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| End of April 2025 | Follow-up: applicant receives notification from NRO and links back to secretary Education policy: invited for interview or not? | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| May 2025 | Follow-up: Applicant receives decision from NRO and links back to secretary Education policy: awarded grant or not awarded? | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
When submitting the nomination, one provides a completed draft application form. This form is based on - and contains the main elements of - the 2024 NRO official nomination form. The draft application form can be developed by the winner into a complete application after the publication of the new call for proposals and the new 2025 official nomination form.
Click here to download the draft application form. Note of importance: since the final application to the NRO for the Comenius Leadership Fellows has to be written in English, this form is only available in English.
Do you need help while you're writing your proposal for a Teaching or Senior Fellow? Or do you want to know how to make your draft application for the internal selection procedure for the Leadership Fellow as successful as possible? If so, please contact Silvester Draaijer (silvester.draaijer@vu.nl) and Janneke Waelen (j.waelen@vu.nl) of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) for substantive advice. For more information on the VU's internal selection procedure and the NRO's external selection procedure, contact Kristel Struiksma, secretary of the Education Awards (k.struiksma@vu.nl).
Earlier Comenius fellowships acquired by the VU can be found on this page.
The Dutch Education Award (Nederlandse Onderwijspremie in Dutch) is the highest award in secondary vocational education and higher education. The award is given to education teams in appreciation of, and as an impetus for, educational innovation and improvement in secondary vocational, higher vocational and university education. Each educational institution may nominate one teaching team.
Read the call for proposals for the Dutch Education Award of 2025 here.
The premium is awarded annually to teaching teams that have developed an initiative over the past six years that has led to improvement in education.
The premium totalling €7.5 million will be divided between three teams from secondary vocational education (€2.5 million), three teams from higher vocational education (€2.5 million) and three teams from academic education (€2.5 million).
The breakdown is as follows:
As each educational institution is allowed to nominate 1 teaching team, VU uses an internal selection procedure.
Please note: Each faculty is allowed 1 submission for the VU internal selection process. The Faculty of Science is an exception and may make 2 submissions. It is therefore important that interested teams make their intention to submit an application known to their faculty. In case of multiple applicants, the faculty will ultimately decide which team will be submitted for the VU-wide internal selection procedure.
Interested teams may submit a draft application to their faculty. Faculties may then submit the draft application of their choice to secretary for the Education Awards Kristel Struiksma until Friday 24 May: k.struiksma@vu.nl . The VU Comenius/NOP jury will then consider the draft applications and will meet in mid-June to pre-discuss the draft applications. Based on the preliminary discussion, an interview round with the shortlisted candidates will follow in mid-June, after which a winner will be designated. The winning team will have until the end of October to develop the draft application into a final application, and can count on support from the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
Below is the schedule for the internal pre-selection procedure and support from the VU. Please note: The planning below is a preliminary planning based on the deadlines from last year's call for proposals. Therefore, please note that the schedule below may change after publication of the new call for proposals.
| Date | What | Who |
| End of February 2024 | Call for draft applications. | Education policy c.c. CTL |
| March-May 2024 | Start disseminating information within faculties - start substantive advice CTL. | Faculties c.c. CTL |
| 24 May 2024 | Deadline for submission of draft applications. Draft applications are submitted to secretary Education Awards from the Education Policy team. | Education policy c.c. CTL |
| Mid-June 2024 | Jury deliberation: preliminary discussion, announcement of shortlist | VU jury Comenius & NOP |
| Late June 204 | Jury deliberations: interview round with shortlisted candidates | VU jury Comenius & NOP |
| Early July 2024 | Secretary Education Policy communicates results of jury deliberations to candidates. | Education policy |
| From 1 September - October 2024 | Winning team develops draft application with help from CTL. | CTL |
| Last week of October 2024 | Agreement on nomination letter by rector magnificus. | Education polic y |
| 5 November 2024, before 14:00 | Deadline: Leader of winning team submits final application via NRO's electronic portal (ISAAC).Copy of final application goes to Secretary Education Policy for archiving. | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| Late November - early December 2024 | Follow-up: applicant receives preliminary advice from NRO and feeds back to Education Policy Secretary. | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| March 2025 | Follow-up: Applicant receives decision NRO and feeds back to secretary Education policy: invited for interview or not? | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| Early May 2025 | Round of interviews - NRO | |
| May 2025 | Follow-up: Applicant receives decision NRO and feeds back to secretary Education policy: nominated for Award or not? | Leader selected team c.c. Education policy |
| June 2025 | Award ceremony during Comenius Festival |
When submitting the nomination, one provides a completed draft application form. This form is based on - and contains the most important components of - the 2024 NRO official nomination form. The draft application form can be developed by the winning team into a complete application after the publication of the new call for proposals and the new 2025 official nomination form.
Click here to download the draft application form. Since the NRO allows final applications for the Dutch Education Award to be made in both Dutch and English, the form is available in both Dutch and English. Please choose the form of your preferred language.
Want to know how to make your draft application for the internal selection procedure as successful as possible? If so, please contact Silvester Draaijer (silvester.draaijer@vu.nl) and Janneke Waelen (j.waelen@vu.nl) of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) for substantive advice. For more information on the VU's internal selection procedure and the NRO's external selection procedure, contact Kristel Struiksma, secretary Education Awards (k.struiksma@vu.nl).
Want to know what requirements a complete application for the Dutch Education Award must meet and what the procedure looks like at a detailed level? Please consult the call for proposals for 2025 on the NRO website.
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