Facts and figures

Participants

In 2024 we offered 653 learning activities and registered 19,380 participants: 7,246 from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ) in The Hague, 5,739 from the missions and 315 from other ministries.

Learning activities

The learning activities ranged from the international policy officer training programme (IBBZ) to leadership courses, from region-specific courses to negotiating, and from language learning to intercultural skills.

Of these 653 learning activities, 217 were developed by the Academy, 75 were developed by other parts of BZ but delivered by the Academy, and 384 were general e-learning courses by SkillsTown.

BZ curriculum

• 74% of BZ staff visited the Academy’s learning portal.
• 52% of them registered for one or more learning activities offered by the Academy.
• French (40%) is the most popular of the 19 languages that were offered centrally. Departments or missions can also make their own arrangements for language training, which are then financed through the Academy. In this way the Academy paid for courses in 39 languages, with most of the money going to French, followed by Dutch.
• Since the new SharePoint platform was launched, SharePoint training courses have been particularly popular. Nine SharePoint training courses made it onto the list of 20 most popular courses, with 4,072 registered participants.

International affairs and Diplomacy

The top 10 group training courses (online and in-person)

1             Tech diplomacy
2             Pathways for leaving fossil fuels underground in Latin America
               Region policy course Latin America & Caribbean
3             Impact of slavery past
4             Successful intercultural leadership
5             EU external policy and instruments
6             Working across cultures: expand your cultural agility
7             Regional course on Sub-Saharan Africa
8             Tie-in with NATO Summit: the trans-Atlantic security relationship
9             Trade and investment promotion
10          Course for civil servants working in international policy (OAIB)
 

The top 10 e-learning courses

1             The basics of trade promotion
2             A public diplomacy approach
                positioning the Netherlands by influencing foreign audiences
3             International protocol at the mission [in Dutch]
4             Writing analyses of EU legislative proposals [in Dutch]
5             Fundamentals of International Cultural Policy
6             Writing instructions for permanent
                representatives/Coreper [in Dutch]
7             Writing EU papers and instructions [in Dutch]
8             Learning pathway training material
9             Kingdom Affairs [in Dutch]
10          Introduction to World Religions

Lecture series on current events

The top 10 lectures

1             Introducing ‘NATO at 75’: A Special Lecture Series on the Past,
                Present, and Future of the Transatlantic Alliance
2             The Hague as a symbol of hope? International law
                and the role of the Netherlands
3             Information session on the Individual Flexible Budget (IKB) [in Dutch]
4             What can you do to contribute to a safe and inclusive
                workplace that excludes racism?
5             Networking across cultures: how to create successful
                connections around the world
6             Insights into Europe |The war by troll armies [in Dutch]
7             Orange meets Green for organising a sustainable King’s Day
8             Now more than ever: why and how religion matters
                in 21st century foreign policy
9             The power of faith in politics: Does religion shape the US Elections?
10          Quantum technology: what impact will quantum technology
               have on our societies?

Contract award procedures

In 2024 we conducted seven contract award procedures. Some contracts ended, but others will continue into 2025.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated the contract award procedure for the media training course that is offered jointly with the Communications Department. The following six European tenders were coordinated by the category management unit for Specialist Knowledge and Personal Development (VPO):

• Job-specific training courses
• Political and administrative sensitivity
• Talent development programme for staff in scales 12 to 14
• Four targeted training courses
• Objective recruitment and selection
• Educational services and tailored digital learning materials

Operational management in brief

The Academy’s budget for 2024 was €4,002,875. For interministerial participation in learning activities, a total of €311,400 was charged to the relevant ministries. In 2024 we received additional requests from BZ for new learning activities, so that our total expenditure was €4,401,040.89, an overspend of 9%.

Social media and website

In 2024 we posted on LinkedIn 47 times, and received 1,972 unique visitors, 1,089 reactions and 47 queries and messages from visitors. Our LinkedIn messages were reposted 43 times. At the end of 2024 our LinkedIn page had over 5,839 followers and more than 155,961 views – 3.4% more than in 2023.

Further information

If you have any questions about our annual report or would like additional information, please email academie@minbuza.nl. We would be happy to provide information or figures where possible.