The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo is an academic centre, which provides services for scholars and students from the supporting universities.These activities are mainly relating to the fields of Arabic & Islamic studies, Egyptology, Archaeology and Papyrology, although the institute represents the universities in other disciplines as well, and on a more general level. 

The staff members of the institute, as well as its temporary research fellows, undertake research on behalf of the supporting universities. The NVIC occasionally organises colloquia on topics related to its expertise. 
The NVIC also offers academic courses in the archaeology of Egypt and in Arabic studies within the framework of study programmes at the Dutch and Flemish universities. These courses focus on practical knowledge and academic experience in Egypt and they thus add a significant aspect to either field of study at the universities involved. The institute may assist in the supervision of theses, papers and other individual study programmes undertaken in Egypt. 
In addition, the NVIC organises special courses in the field of the language and culture of Egypt and the Middle East on demand for non-academic target groups, such as governmental institutions and private companies. 
Finally, the institute helps to disseminate Dutch and Flemish culture and promotes Dutch- and Flemish-Egyptian cultural co-operation, working closely together with the competent institutions in the Netherlands and Flanders and their respective embassies, for instance by offering Dutch language courses.