Comenius Programme

The stimulates innovation in Dutch higher education. The grants and fellowships enable professionals in higher education to implement their ideals and ideas in practice. By demonstrably valuing excellent and inspired teaching, the ministry of education is keen to contribute to more variety in the careers of teachers and researchers at universities and universities of applied sciences. Each year teachers can apply by submitting their proposal. The Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning supports teachers with preparing their proposal.

The Comenius Programme offers the following grants:  

  • Teaching Fellows: €50.000, one-year project, small-scale innovation.
  • Senior Fellow: €100.000, two-year project, innovation in a complete degree programme.
  • Leadership Fellow: €500.000, three-year project, innovation in one or more faculties or a complete institution.

The 'Fellows' are distinguished from one another, not on the basis of their quality as teachers and educational leaders, but on the basis of their experience and the scope of their impact on education. To avoid confusion, the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning also has Fellows, who were previously known as Teaching Fellows. The latter is designed as a career track to professorship with an emphasis on education and is now called the Senior Fellow Programme.

Important condition

Applicants may submit a maximum of one application as the main applicant within the NRO subsidy rounds for innovation in higher education. This includes the , the and the three subsidy rounds within the Comenius programme. The purpose of this condition is to increase the allocation percentage for applicants. Please read the call for proposals carefully (to be found on the website of the ) for the exact conditions and make a conscious choice for one of these grants.

Comenius Teaching Fellow

As a teacher, you can apply for the Teaching Fellow programme yourself. Please discuss this with your Director of Education and/or manager. 

Comenius Senior Fellow

Only one Comenius Senior Fellow per faculty can be nominated. Most faculties therefore organise an internal selection procedure. Please contact your faculty contact person for your faculty's internal deadlines.

Comenius Leadership Fellow

Only one Comenius Leadership Fellow per institution may be nominated (Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and UMCU count as one institution for NRO). This nomination is determined as follows:

  1. The CAT Advisory Board advises on suitable themes for a subsequent application;
  2. a subcommittee of the CAT Advisory Board conducts an exploratory study to identify individuals whose profile is suitable for developing an application for one of these themes;
  3. the full CAT Advisory Board advises on who can be approached to develop an application;
  4. the person in question is asked whether they are interested in developing the application;
  5. the rector decides who may develop the application. 

More information

Look at the site of the for the annual theme’s for proposals chosen by the NRO and other FAQ’s. When you are interested in submitting a proposal, please contact our Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning. The Centre is in contact with a wide network of experts. We are more than willing to help along to optimize your proposal.