The Comenius programme finances evidence-informed innovation projects that directly benefit students and aim to improve higher education. The projects are considered innovative not only in the context of our university but also further afield, and go beyond the kind of curriculum renewal that can generally be expected of the university. In addition, it is important that the projects also add value for other education professionals. Projects can focus on developing a completely new educational, technological or disciplinary innovation or applying an existing innovation within a distinctive new educational context that has relevance for other parties. Projects that have previously been funded can be found here: Comenius projects that have received funding | NRO

The Comenius programme is an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and is coordinated by the Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO), which is part of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

The Comenius programme has three types of grants: the Teaching, Senior and Leadership Fellowships. These grants differ in terms of the scale of implementation and impact, the required applicant profile (individual or duo), the amount of the grant and the duration of the project. All recipients of a grant will become members of the national Comenius Network.

• For the Teaching Fellowship, there is no maximum number of submissions per university. Applications can be submitted by anyone who meets the criteria.

• For the Senior Fellowship, only one proposal can be submitted per faculty or interfaculty institute; to comply with this criterion, a faculty selection will take place over the summer.

• For the Leadership Fellowship, one proposal can be submitted per university. The selection is already in progress. For more information, please contact Anna Terra Verhage.

The calls for proposals for the coming 2024 round of applications (including the exact deadlines) are expected to be published at the end of June/start of July 2023. The deadlines for statements of intent are expected early in September 2023. Earlier internal deadlines apply for the Senior and Leadership Fellowships as a selection has to be made by the faculty (max. 1 Senior per faculty or interfaculty institute) or the university (max. 1 Leadership per university) respectively.

Applications for the Teaching and Senior Fellowship grants can be submitted within defined yet broad themes. Three substantive themes and a fourth open theme are set each year. The themes for the coming round of applications – call 2024 – are:

1. Teaching methods of the future: Projects aimed at the question of how to develop and implement innovative teaching methods and technological developments in higher education in a meaningful way that will enhance student learning.
2. Diversity and inclusion: Projects aimed at making education or the educational environment more inclusive for students en route to and through higher education.
3. Connection to the job market: Projects aimed at preparing students for the changing job market of the future.
4. Open theme: Within the open theme it is possible to choose from a broad range of subjects inspired by the lecturer’s interest in educational design, provided the projects benefit students and contribute to innovation and improvement in higher education.

To find out more about the Comenius programme, please visit the Comenius programme page and the the NRO website.

If you are interested in submitting a proposal in the coming round or would like to know more about the procedure, please contact Anna Terra Verhage (SAZ policy adviser) or Kathelijne Smits (SEA grant adviser). You can register here for the information session on 13 June 2023.