The Thorbecke Academy in Assen, part of NHL Stenden, will be offering the four-year higher professional education program Integral Safety Studies from 1 September. There, students are trained to work for organizations such as the police or the Ministry of Defence. “It really is a training that appeals.”
With the arrival of so-called workshops in 2021, the first steps towards this training have been taken, says director Richard Delger. “We work together with various fields of work of our courses. We have set up studios for this purpose and they were such a success that we started research into full-time training.” The results of the study have been approved by the Ministry of Education.
NHL Stenden has been offering the training in Leeuwarden for many years. “It is a very large, successful course. And it appears that the field in Drenthe and the surrounding area needs it just as much as in Leeuwarden,” says Delger.
The program offers two different profiles: company security and cyber safety. The first focuses on all safety aspects on business parks and in the business community. Cybersafety has to do with the human side of digital security, such as data profiles.
“We work closely with the police, defense and the fire brigade,” says Delger. According to him, these are also the organizations where students end up after their education. “But it even extends to maritime and military security services. So it really is a training in the broad spectrum of security.”
The course in Assen will start on September 1 and students from the region are only too happy with it, according to Delger. “We have a lot of students from the Groningen and Drenthe region. They prefer to study in Assen than in Leeuwarden.” The new school year starts with two classes and a number of second-year students also indicated that they would like to study in Assen. So the building will be quite full in the near future.”
In the coming academic year, the current building on Zuidersingel in Assen will still be large enough to accommodate all students, but next year a different location will have to be looked at. “I think that next year we will also receive an inflow of two or three classes. Then we really have to look for a bigger place,” says Delger.
There is no intended location yet, but we are looking for it. “We are in talks with the municipality, the professional field and defense, of course. And also Drenthe College, because we really want to generate a flow from MBO to HBO. So maybe we can do something together.”