Study Guide

Economic and diplomatic expertise and skills in the field of international trade and foreign investment are essential in an increasingly integrated and complex global economy. Take, for example, the skills you need to help Dutch businesses with their activities in foreign markets, and knowledge of sustainable economic development in developing countries.

Learning activities include:

• Introduction to Trade and Investment Promotion
• Business for Development Works
• Webinars on Economic Diplomacy

View the full list of international trade and investment learning activities (log in for BZ learning activities).

For productive international cooperation, up-to-date knowledge of both policy and implementation is essential. The Academy provides learning activities on topics like multilateral cooperation, food security, energy, climate and migration.

Learning activities include:

• Energy International
• Conflict and Crisis: putting gender equality up front
• Strategic foresight and forecasting
• How to respond to climate change (e-learning)
• Food and nutrition security (e-learning)
• Gender Offcourse (e-learning)
• The Dutch approach on SRHR (e-learning)
• H2Online (e-learning)
• Gender in sustainable business and development (e-learning)
• Migration: Behind the scenes - The training

View the full list of international cooperation learning activities (log in for BZ learning activities).

In order to contribute to peace and security in the world, you need expertise in policy and implementation. But in-depth knowledge of regions is also essential. The Academy provides learning activities on every region in the world, focusing on topics like history, human rights, migration, security, trade, religion and money flows.

Learning activities include:

• Business and Human Rights
• Human Rights Course
• Introduction to World Religions

• Training courses on various regions

View the full list of peace, security and regional policy learning activities (log in for BZ learning activities).

It is of essential importance for staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staff with international roles at other ministries to have an excellent command of at least one foreign language. This makes a crucial difference in representing the Netherlands abroad, enabling us to protect our interests more effectively and achieve better results.

Find out more about languages and language courses

As a representative of the Dutch government, you have to be aware of the do’s and don’ts in the world of diplomacy. In an international setting, with participants from a variety of cultural backgrounds, sound intercultural skills and knowledge of protocol and etiquette are essential.

Learning activities include:

• Working across Cultures, expand your cultural agility
• Tech Diplomacy

View the full list of diplomatic skills learning activities (log in for BZ learning activities).

These learning activities aim to improve the quality of policy, commissioning and collaboration in and between policy fields.

Learning activities include:

• Defining clear assignments
• Activity cycle module
• Managing evaluations
• Stakeholder analysis

Go to the catalogue, log in and find your learning activity.

How to understand what other people mean, and how to put across your own message convincingly.

Learning activities include:

• Writing skills:
  • Writing effective messages
  • Writing effective management proposals
  • Writing policy papers for the Minister
  • Writing effective mails for management assistants

Go to the catalogue, log in and find your learning activity.

Learning activities under this heading include more than practical training. It’s essential to be able to navigate a digital information structure, work with online systems and process information securely.

Learning activities include:

• Information Security - YOU are the key to our protection!
• Information management at BZ; 247Plaza, 247Foxy, Sophia
• Digital skills: various e-learning activities

Go to the catalogue, log in and find your learning activity.

Know yourself – your qualities and talents, but also your weaknesses. A better understanding of your own personal style and motives will help you to collaborate more effectively with others.

Learning activities include:

• Coaching

Go to the catalogue, log in and find your learning activity.

Good leadership doesn’t always come easily. Like every skill, you need to learn how to do it in a way that suits you. Our learning pathways help you strike a balance between the three leadership roles we have defined at BZ: the subject specialist, the social adviser and the manager.

Learning activities include:

• Leadership and Management learning pathway
• Learning Path Operational Management

View the full list of leadership and management learning activities (log in for BZ learning activities).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to be an inclusive and diverse organisation that acts with integrity and has a safe and supportive working culture. An organisation where everyone belongs and everyone feels welcome, and where there is scope for authenticity. A working culture like this does not emerge spontaneously, but calls for an ongoing effort from us all. The curriculum focused on D&I is currently being updated – in line with the ambitions expressed by the Senior Management Board for the coming years in the broad field of Diversity, Inclusion and Safe Work Environment (1BZ). 

Visit the Inclusion Plaza  for Diversity & Inclusion learning activities (D&I) (don't forget to log in)

Every year, BZ offers two members of staff the opportunity to take up to 12 months’ leave to complete their doctoral thesis. To be eligible, candidates should:

• be able to show that they are making progress with their thesis.
• make a persuasive case that they are prepared and able to act as brokers between policymakers and academics in one or more of their future jobs at BZ.

See the course catalogue for more information on research leave (in Dutch).

In addition to research leave, staff with plans to write a doctoral thesis may apply for leave to start their research. The Policy and Academic Research Committee assesses the applications, which must be submitted by mid-January of the year in which leave is requested. Research leave enables the further development of a career track for in-depth knowledge acquisition.

For more information, get in touch with the Policy and Academic Research Committee by sending an email to the Academy’s dean, Dirk-Jan Koch.

In order to learn and develop, you should first consider the activities on the Academy’s curriculum. But if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you may make use of the Education and Training Support Scheme, under which you may apply for time and money to do a course at an external institution. Find out more about education and training support for staff at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the conditions that apply on Rijksportaal (in Dutch). 

If you wish to make use of the Academy’s learning facilities and activities, we expect you to comply with our terms and conditions. These contain rules on registration, cancellation and modifications, describe our integrity policy and how we process your personal data, and set out our obligations if the instructor is ill or unavailable. In principle, you will need the permission of your manager before registering for a learning activity.