Cultural Heritage Scholarship Programme

A one-year scholarship for a heritage master’s programme in the Netherlands for applicants from selected countries

What’s on this page?

• Countries
• About the programme
• Examples of courses offered
• Application process and timeline

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Information for applicants on requirements for application and deadlines, will be shared shortly.

Welcome to the Cultural Heritage Scholarship Programme, an initiative launched by the Netherlands to foster knowledge collaboration around cultural heritage. This scholarship is designed for young students and professionals to pursue master’s programs in the field of cultural heritage in the Netherlands. The aim is to contribute to provenance research of cultural objects from participating countries in Dutch museums and to support the (request for) return of cultural heritage objects.

Countries

You may be eligible for a Cultural Heritage Scholarship if you specialize in or study heritage, art art history, history or museum studies and are a national citizen of:

• Indonesia
• Nigeria
• Sri Lanka
• Suriname
• South Africa

For Suriname, you can apply if you possess the Surinamese nationality and live and/or work in Suriname or the Netherlands. For South Africa both people with the South African nationality as well as those possessing a permanent residency may apply. For Indonesia, Nigeria and Sri Lanka applicants need to possess the country’s nationality and live and/or work in the respective country.

Indonesia joint scholarship with LPDP
For Indonesia, there is a special partnership with the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP (link is external) ) to fund this programme. This joint scholarship aims to optimise the resources that the collaborating organisations have as this topic is important to Indonesia’s development priorities and the bilateral cooperation agenda of the two countries. This means that students from Indonesia will have to apply (link is external) with LPDP directly as well. LPDP has its own application criteria which the applicant must fulfil.

About the programme

The Cultural Heritage Scholarship Programme is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic, aligning with Dutch policy based on the Advice on Colonial Collections and Recognition of Injustice (link is external) from the Gonçalves Commission. Because of the imbalance of power during the colonial era, cultural objects were often improperly obtained. The Dutch government is keen to help rectify this historic injustice by returning cultural heritage objects to their country of origin and by strengthening international cooperation in this area. This initiative is in line with other efforts within this policy framework, such as the consortium colonial collections (link is external) and opportunities offered by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO (link is external) ). Both are currently offering research opportunities in the Netherlands on this topic: NWO call for proposals (link is external) and the NIAS–NIOD–KITLV Fellowship (link is external) .

Examples of courses offered

The programme offers 15-20 scholarships to students from participating countries for one-year master’s programmes in the Netherlands, starting in September 2024. The scholarship programme covers several master’s programmes with a focus on cultural heritage, for example:

• Reinwardt Academy: MA Applied Museum and Heritage Studies and MA Museum Studies
• Leiden University: MA Colonial and Global History (subtraject Heritage and Postcolonial Studies)
• Utrecht University: MA Cultural History and Heritage
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: MA Heritage Studies and MA Global History
• Groningen University: MA Arts, Cognition and Criticism

Please note that the master’s programmes above are examples of potential master’s programmes, an official list will follow shortly.

Application process and timeline

The first application round for the Cultural Heritage Scholarship will open in early February 2024 for students and young professionals under 36 years of age. Admission to one of the master’s programmes on the official list will be a requirement for application. Furthermore, ties to the cultural sector in the country of origin and a clear motivation how the candidate will apply this knowledge after their studies will be assessed in the selection process. More information on actual dates and requirements will follow shortly.

The first scholarships are planned to be awarded in May 2024, and successful candidates will commence their studies in September 2024. The programme aims to have trained 15-20 students from the specified countries of origin by the end of 2025.