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PhD education

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NIG provides a high-quality training program at the doctoral-level.

Our training program is targeted at PhD-Candidates of one of our NIG member institutions. Unsure whether your research institution is a NIG member? Click here. Our courses are also open to participants from other universities, if places are available. Please contact us for more information here.

Our training program has three goals:

  1. PhD-Candidates broaden their knowledge and familiarize themselves with pertinent developments in public administration and political science
  2. PhD-Candidates improve the quality of their own doctoral research by taking specialist courses as well as discussing theoretical- and methodological topics with top scholars and other PhD-Candidates
  3. PhD-Candidates gain access to a broad network of junior and senior scholars within their fields of research. 

This training program can be combined with requirements from your local graduate school. There are multiple ways to participate in our training program, read more about this below.

We offer a training program in which can be participated in multiple ways.

Option 1: All-inclusive PhD member

This option gives you access to all we have to offer. This means you can take all courses we offer (including international courses such as the ECPR methods courses), and you can also enter our annual work conference and other activities such as research seminars and colloquia for free. You register for courses and activities you want to attend individually, but only pay a one-time all-inclusive fee of 1700,-.

There are two ways you can make use of this unlimited access to our courses:

(1) You can follow our pre-set training program which consists of a study load of 30 EC of core courses and electives. Once these 30 EC are completed, you are offered a NIG diploma which is accredited by the European Association of Public Administration Accreditation (EAPAA). An accredited diploma is a prerequisite of some of our member universities before handing in your dissertation. Moreover, our diploma will benefit those with multidisciplinary backgrounds to show you are an expect in the field of public administration and/or political science.

(2) You can make your own mix and follow any of the core courses and electives that we offer, without following the pre-set training program. This means that you will receive certificates upon completion of the courses, but not qualify for a NIG diploma in the end. Of course, you can change your mind whenever you want. As long as you have completed the 30 EC program you can request a NIG diploma afterwards.

If you wish to attend more courses than the 30 EC, you can! You are not limited to our 30 EC training program making this all-inclusive option really all-inclusive. Moreover, with this membership you get access to all our other activities for free. More about that here.

Apply here for our all-inclusive PhD membership.

Option 2: Pick and choose

With this option you can pick and choose most courses offered by NIG on a one-by-one basis. For some courses there is limited capacity and these will then only be open for PhD-candidates enrolled in the full program.

Course fees are paid per course. Course fees are 100,- per course (1 day) for participants from member institutions and 150,- for third parties. For seminars (3-5 days) there is a fee of 500,- for participants from member institutions and 750,- for third parties. That means that our all-inclusive PhD-membership is usually the cheaper option if you attend more than three courses or combine these with participation .

Once you complete the course, you receive a NIG certificate for that individual course.

We believe enrolling in our all-inclusive training program is worth it because:

  1. It helps you develop your PhD-project.

NIG offers a set of courses on key topics (classics, integrity, research design) that help you craft and develop your PhD-project.

  1. It helps you to develop as an academic in general

The program helps you develop more broadly as a public administration and/or political science academic researcher, because you get to select from a broad range of types of courses (core, elective and both academic- and professional skills) as well as in content. In this way, you can develop the all-round academic that you want to become.

  1. It immerses you in the broad academic community

By joining NIG, you become part of the academic network in public administration and political science in the Netherlands and Flanders. You will meet and interact with top scholars in our field during our courses and make long-lasting connections with peers attending those courses.

  1. It offers an internationally accredited post-doctoral degree

If you complete the full program of 30 EC (15 EC core courses and 15 EC electives) you will have an internationally accredited (EAPAA) post-doctoral degree. An increasing amount of our member institutions are recommending (and sometimes requiring) a minimum of 30 EC training program. We help you get that in an accredited way.

  1. It is a flexible program

You can enroll in our courses in different years of your PhD. You can also add electives outside of the NIG curriculum to count towards your NIG diploma to really ensure you follow courses that benefit you.

  1. It is non-exclusive

Our training program offers many elective courses which we are constantly developing. If you aim to participate in other courses, for instance at your local graduate school or a summer method course, these can be accepted as electives that count towards your NIG diploma.

  1. It is field-specific

NIG builds on the joint forces and knowledge of 12 public administration and political science departments. Our curriculum builds on the best and the brightest of our field. All of our courses are developed for and given by academics in our disciplines.

  1. It is cost-efficient

If you choose to enroll in the all-inclusive membership option, your institution will pay a modest one-time fee. This will give you access to (1) all of our courses; (2) free participation in our annual work conference; (3) the right to participate in one (or more) or our currently six research colloquia.