Participate in the programme

Is NICE the right opportunity for me?

The NICE programme will provide you with entrepreneurial and intercultural competence skills to make you more employable. Build your entrepreneurial and communication skills by working in virtual international teams for the purpose of building a business solution for a Global Challenge - to help make the world a better place! While you are working on your business solution, you will have fun developing your new skills in online interactive modules. Over the course of the NICE programme you will be supported by staff from the partner universities to help you get the most out of your experience.

The NICE programme offers a fantastic opportunity to connect with students from other cultures and universities while developing core skills, providing you have the time and the drive to make the most of the programme. Participants must be able to commit roughly ten hours per week to work through the online modules and collaborate with your team to address your chosen global challenge. This time includes individual work, teamwork (offline), regular meetings with your teammates, and facilitated sessions. Please ensure that you can commit to this time, as your teammates will depend upon you, just as you will depend upon them, to succeed in this programme.

Am I eligible?

Applications for the NICE programme are open to all full-time, part-time and visiting students from the following partner universities: University of Amsterdam, University College Dublin, University of Edinburgh, University of Padova and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Applications for the NICE programme are open to students with disabilities who may not be able to participate in other international experiences.

There is no fee to join the NICE programme.

What will I do on the NICE programme?

If you are selected to participate in the NICE programme, your journey will begin when you are placed on a team with five other students from NICE partner universities (our partners are all listed above and on the About NICE page). 

Keep in mind: as part of your application, you will be asked to rank the Global Challenges you would like to focus on (read more detail about these on our Global Challenges page). If you are selected to the programme, you will be placed into a team based on the Global Challenges that you selected at the application stage. You will also be asked to indicate preferred time slots, which will help teams find a time to meet regularly throughout the programme.

The NICE programme will provide you with the skills to improve your future employability. You will develop these skills through the following aspects of the virtual programme:

1. Fun, interactive virtual Modules focused on intercultural competence and entrepreneurship. Find out more about the modules on our Online modules page.

2. Creating an innovative business idea with your teammates that addresses your team’s Global Challenge. You can find an overview of all the available topics for you to focus on via our Global Challenges page.

3. Live peer feedback sessions and a final presentation event, where teams will have the chance to present their global challenge solution to an expert panel of judges.

4. An optional Summer School in Kraków, Poland, where participants will continue their NICE journey by learning other methodologies for tackling Global Challenges. Please note that spaces at the Summer School will be limited, so it is possible to be accepted onto the NICE programme but not on the Summer School.

You will need to be able to commit roughly ten hours per week once you and your team have started working on the Modules (see the timeline below for more information). This time includes individual work, teamwork (offline), regular meetings with your teammates, and facilitated sessions. Please ensure that you can commit to this time, as your teammates will depend upon you, just as you will depend upon them, to succeed in this programme.

If you have any questions regarding any of the information above, please contact us.

What are the dates I need to be aware of?

TBD

4 – 24 March

TBD

25 March – 7 April

8 April – 5 May

TBD

6 May – 2 June

TBD

3 – 16 June

TBD

30 June – 6 July