Facilities and support
Office space and office facilities
A graduate student is allocated a desk in a (shared) office with usual office facilities such as desk, storage space, telephone and network connection. All other facilities and support staff of ITC are available in connection with research (e.g., bookshop, IT helpdesk, library, laboratories, technical support) and residence (e.g., educational affairs for residence permits, financial affairs for fellowship administration, restaurant, ITC International Hotel).
Notebook
A graduate student receives a notebook for data storage and processing, email communications and internet access. In the required research budget € 1000 is reserved for this expenditure. A notebook is not necessarily new and not necessarily supplied on arrival (though an alternative PC will be temporarily available). The notebook remains the property of ITC and must be returned to the IT helpdesk at the end of the registration period (however after 4 years the notebook is depreciated and the student can keep it at no charge).
Budget
Graduate students need a research operating costs budget for materials and travel, including travel by the supervisor(s). The costs may vary according to the type of research (fieldwork and laboratory studies can be quite expensive). The average budget needed is 3 x 5000 euro during the research and 5000 euro for the thesis publication and graduation (total 20,000 euro). In case no budget is available at all for a sponsored PhD student or AiO, he/she may receive a basic contribution from ITC amounting to maximal 50% of the amount quoted above, made available on successful completion of the initial qualifier period and comprising of three annual installments of € 2500 plus the costs of PhD thesis publication at a maximum of € 2500 (these amounts are reduced in case of sandwich constructions and if other contributions are defined, for example in a partnership agreement).
Graduate students preparing a research proposal and accompanying budget should plan according to these norms. Prudent administration of the budget is required. The signature of the senior supervisor is required to approve any item of expenditure.
Housing
Graduate students other than research assistants (AiOs) are required to reside in the ITC International Hotel (IIH) for the first 6 months of their stay (in order for ITC to comply with obligations as a host institution for non-Dutch nationals residing in the Netherlands). All graduate students other than research assistants (AiOs) are entitled to accommodation at student rates. In case there is any contribution from ITC towards the students hotel costs agreed, this can only be used when the student is residing in the IIH hotel.
Graduate students leaving the hotel for relatively short periods of fieldwork or leisure (< 6 weeks) are not permitted to check out (and remain for these periods on full fellowship). Those leaving the hotel for longer periods (> 6 weeks), such as sandwich study periods and long fieldwork, should check out; fellowship is not normally paid in full during these periods.
Research overseas
For periods of research overseas, the fellowship rate and/or per diem fieldwork rate for a graduate student is normally specified by the fellowship provider and/or partnership agreement. Where payments are made from the research operating costs budget, amounts must be consistent with completing the research within the overall budget available.