Applying to Saxion University - CV & Letter Requirements
1. REQUIREMENTS APPLICATIONLETTER & CV
Saxion University of Applied Sciences
The Netherlands
Sustainability at Saxion
ir. Gerard A.M. de Fraiture
Retired Senior Lecturer Environmental Sciences
November 2009
2. Sustainability at Saxion
Targetgroup
• Officials who have to select YOU!
• Out of 1,000 applicants
• Looking for RELEVANT information:
short and compact
• They prefer a personal style
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DON’TS
• Repeating information
(in application letter and CV)
• Religion, parents, health, height, weight,
… (not relevant in the Western World!)
• Indonesian abbreviations
(give only the English translation!)
• Elementary & High school
(otherwise you cannot enter university!)
• Tell not ‘I am not satisfied yet with what I did ’
• English spelling faults (excellence?)
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Inspiration?
Inform yourself at the internet:
http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/v
ernav/Europasss+Documents/Europass+CV.csp;jse
ssionid=8EEEE460D4AB2EBEE2384152FADA04D4.w
orker_portal_cms
Inform and personalize:
don’t ‘copy/paste’
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Main structure CV
• Personal information
• Educational background (with GPA/date)
• Organizational (& work) experiences
• Language and informatics skills
(give TOEFL / IELTS-score & date)
• Personal talents (unique selling points!)
• Within 2 pages A4
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CV: personal information
• Full name (nick name) picture?
• Place / date of birth (age)
• Address (x km from parents place)
• Phone (cell- and hand-)
• E-mail address
• Nationality
• Gender (not ‘sex’)
• No identity card & expiring date
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CV: educational background
• From recent to past
• Name university, faculty and your
major (not address) / GPA & date
• Relevant and major extracurricular
courses (not seminars of one day!)
• Not language and informatics
courses
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CV: organizational and work experiences
• From recent to past
• Timeline / organization / position /
responsibilities:
give overview in a table
• Select major experiences
(give relevant overview
to show your gained competences)
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CV: language and informatics skills
• Language:
preferent in TOEFL/IELTS-score
& test date
• Informatics: major skills
(every student is expected to be able to work
with Windows, MS Office and the Internet!)
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CV: personal talents
• Difficult to know when you are 20 years old!
• Ask your friends: they can easily tell you what
make you unique (as you can tell them!): just
interview them and write it down!
• Come in this way to about five
‘unique selling points’
(and ‘young’, ‘energetic’, ‘hardworking’,
‘motivated’ and so on are not unique!)
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CV: lay out
• Use header (name, place and date) and
footer (page number and amount of pages) to
identificate your CV
• Deliver a pdf-file
• Close with: ‘I certify that all information and
data given in this curriculum vitae are true and
correct and was made in good faith and with my
best knowledge’ and undersign with date
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Main structure application letter (1)
I focus on requirements
Huygens Scholarship Programme:
http://www.nuffic.nl/international-
students/scholarships/worldwide/hsp-huygens-programme
Start with your wish to apply for the
prestigious HSP Huygens Programme by
the Dutch institution you would like to
study at
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Main structure application letter (2)
• The most important criterion is top
quality in all senses of the word:
show and prove this in your
application letter and CV
• The assessment of your application
is solely based on your application
file: give all relevant information!
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Main structure application letter (3)
About your excellence, mention:
• you have obtained excellent results in all
your previous studies and you are in the
top 10 % of students in your study
• make a connection with gained
competentes out of extracurricular
activities
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Main structure application letter (4)
Your motivation include the following points:
• how and why you have chosen this study
programme at this University of Applied Sciences in
the Netherlands; have you already connections?
• what value this programme would add to your
previous education (deepening and broadening?)
• what the Dutch programme would mean for your
future career
• why en in which way you plan to develop your
talents
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Lay out application letter
• Give it your personal style
• Give structure with one subject in
one paragraph
• Consider every word: come to the
essence in 1 page A4, letter size 11
• Deliver a pdf-file
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References from your Indonesian University
Please ask them to focus at:
• your personality and specific
achievements
• what and why of your choice for your
Dutch programme
In a way that they deliver a maximum
contribution to your application for HSP
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In closing
It’s up to you!
I wish you all you need for a
successful application
Saxion will give all she has to make
nomination letters that come to the
requirements of HSP
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