Comenius programme for educational innovation

The Dutch National Education Institute (NKO) has a budget available through the Comenius programme. The programme is for lecturers who want to work on innovation and improvement of higher education in the Netherlands. All recipients of a Comenius scholarship are connected through the national ComeniusNetwork (website in Dutch).

Themes Comenius programme 

The themes and deadlines for the new year are expected to be published between the end of May and mid-June. At that time, we will update the information and links on this page.

The themes for the Comenius Programme 2026 were: 

  • Education forms of the future
  • Diversity and inclusion
  • Connecting to the labour market
  • Open theme

Within the open theme there is room for different types of projects that contribute to education improvement and innovation. 

Read more about the themes

The themes for 2027 are expected to be published in early June. Experience shows that these will only differ minimally.

Three types of fellowships

The programme consists of three different scholarships: the Teaching Fellow, Senior Fellow, and Leadership Fellow. Depending on your experience you can apply for one of the scholarships. The deadlines for the new round of application will soon be announced during the call for proposals.

Comenius Teaching Fellowship

You have at least two years of experience in higher education and are thus at the start of your career in education. The scholarship allows you to innovate your own education on a project basis.

  • Running time: maximum of 18 months
  • Impact: course level
  • Scholarship: €50.000

View the deadline and call for proposal

Comenius Senior Fellowship

You have at least five years of experience in higher education and you know how education is handled in your department or faculty. The scholarship helps you to work with a team of colleagues and students to implement your previously established vision.

  • Running time: maximum of 30 months
  • Impact: on a programme level and/or faculty level
  • Scholarship: €100.000
  • Maximum of 1 application per faculty per year

Important: check with your contact person in good time to find out your faculty’s internal deadline. If there are several candidates, a decision will be made as to who will be allowed to submit the application on behalf of the faculty.

View the deadline and call for proposal

Comenius Leadership Fellowship

You have at least seven years of experience in education and possess obvious educational leadership skills. You have an impact on the educational climate of your institution. The scholarship allows you to provide an impulse for the educational ambitions of your institutions and serves as inspiration for other professionals in education.

  • Running time: maximum of 42 months
  • Impact: interfaculty level and/or institution level
  • Scholarship: €500.000
  • Maximum of 1 application per institution per year (or in case of a running project, after two years)        

View the deadline and call for proposal

Scholarship Number Amount Duration Focus on
Teaching Fellows 40 €50.000 18 months course level
Senior Fellows 22 €100.000 30 months programme level and/or faculty level
Leadership Fellows 4 €500.000 42 months interfaculty level and/or institution level

Support

The Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre can offer you support if you have questions or get stuck on something during the application procedure. The TLC can also help you get in touch with colleagues who have already completed a Comenius project. Contact details are at the bottom of this page.

TLC plans information sessions in the spring where you will be informed about the differences between the grants, the procedure, and receive advice. Check the agenda to see when these are scheduled.

Application procedure

Teaching and senior fellow

Every year the NKO chooses the themes of that year’s Comenius programme and publishes it on their website. Radboud University offers guidance for all applicants and ensures the applications are suitable. Lecturers who apply for a Teaching Fellow can do so at the NRO.

Applications for a Senior and a Leadership Fellow are done through contact persons at Radboud University. 

  • Faculty of Arts: Edwin van Meerkerk (edwin.vanmeerkerk [at] ru.nl (edwin[dot]vanmeerkerk[at]ru[dot]nl))
  • Nijmegen School of Management: Liesbeth Gulpers (liesbeth.gulpers [at] ru.nl)
  • Faculty of Social Sciences: Nienke Peters-Scheffer (nienke.peters-scheffer [at] ru.nl (nienke[dot]peters-scheffer[at]ru[dot]nl))
  • Faculty of Science: Laura van Niftrik (laura.vanniftrik [at] ru.nl)
  • Faculty of Law: Vincent van Hoof (vincent.vanhoof [at] ru.nl)
  • Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies: Cees Leijenhorst cees.leijenhorst [at] ru.nl ((cees[dot]leijenhorst[at]ru[dot]nl))
  • Faculty of Medical Science: Karen Stegers-Jager (Karen.Stegers-Jager [at] radboudumc.nl (Karen[dot]Stegers-Jager[at]radboudumc[dot]nl))

Leadership Fellow

As only one leadership application may be submitted per institution, we have an internal deadline of 19 June 2026. Through the faculty contacts, a request for submission can be sent to Niels van Roon, Education Affairs (niels.vanroon [at] ru.nl). This should consist of a clear explanation of the plan of about one page, accompanied by a letter of recommendation from the faculty board. 

In the event of multiple applications, a committee of colleagues from Education Support and the Teaching and Learning Centre will issue a recommendation to the rector, taking into account the connection of the application to the Educational Vision of Radboud University, the criteria of the Comenius programme and how promising the application is.

Contact

Do you want to discuss your idea, or do you need help? Please contact Radboud Teaching and Learning Centre.

Contact department

Also interesting

Scholarships for research in education

Do you want to conduct research in your education and do you need a budget? On this page you read more about how you can apply for several scholarships for educational research.