News item | 20-10-2022 | 11:15
The MBO with its 500,000 students plays a key role in the major tasks of tomorrow. The quality of training is good and the demand for professionals is and will remain very high in the coming years. Certainly in view of the major social challenges facing the Netherlands, such as the energy transition, the housing market and healthcare. Today, Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf presents the government’s commitment to MBO. “The equality of all students, including senior secondary vocational education, is paramount to me. We really need all shapes and talents, they really stand at the bar and deserve the appreciation that is due to them.” Concrete measures to ensure this range from combating internship discrimination to rewarding excellence.
For Dijkgraaf, the Work Agenda focuses on three priorities: promoting equality of opportunity for MBO students, improving the connection between education and the labor market, including internships, and improving the quality of education, also through research and innovation. At the beginning of November, the minister will debate in the House of Representatives about his commitment to MBO. The MBO work agenda for 2022 – 2027 will be signed in mid-November together with students, study programmes, lecturers and employees, municipalities and the business community.
Dijkgraaf: “MBO is a wonderful form of education, unique in the world because of the close combination of education and business. Today’s students come up with solutions for tomorrow’s challenges. They deserve our full support. That is why these ambitions and extra money for MBO, to make it even better. Good teachers, managers, instructors and support staff are crucial in this regard. We must therefore also ensure that working in MBO is and remains attractive.”
Equivalence and Excellence Programs
Every MBO student has the right to fully develop his or her skills and to prepare optimally for the labor market. Just like at higher professional education and the university, they must be given the guidance and space to find their own, unique path. To achieve and mark peak performance, excellence programs will be established.
Dijkgraaf appeals to companies, student associations and municipalities that MBO students may also enjoy student sports, student associations and student discounts at certain shops and cultural facilities. Attention is also paid to social safety and well-being for students, as well as extra supervision of vulnerable students with the aim of reducing school leavers.
Students who want to move on should not encounter any unnecessary barriers. A structural amount of 50 million euros is available to seamlessly connect the education programs of VMBO, MBO and HBO. The focus here is on shortage sectors, such as healthcare and technology and education where students now experience many barriers. For level-2 students, the government will structurally increase funding by an additional 150 million euros per year.
Good and sufficient internships
All students deserve a safe and successful introduction to the job market. This already starts during the internship. To this end, an Internship Pact will be concluded, with a total of 30 million euros available for the period of the work agenda. Minister Dijkgraaf wants the business community to make sufficient places available with good guidance. For the business community, this is a stable investment in the future: today’s students will devise and create solutions for tomorrow’s challenges. This naturally includes an appropriate internship compensation.
Minister Dijkgraaf not only asks from the business community, but also from schools to strengthen internship supervision. The Internship Pact plays an important role in the government’s objective to eliminate internship discrimination. It is a joint task to tackle internship discrimination and prejudice. The minister is committed to internship matching for first-year students, based on the student’s learning desire and competence. The school plays the important role of matchmaker between company and student. For a student, a first internship is often the first acquaintance with the future field of work.
Every student must be able to report discrimination in a safe and accessible manner at every MBO institution. The cooperative organization of secondary vocational education and the business community (SBB) will also play an active role in combating internship discrimination.
Improving the connection between education and the labor market
It is important young people? to train with a high chance of a job, a so-called promising profession, appropriate to the interests of a student, talents and capacities. The match between motivations and talents of students and the demand from the labor market could be better. That is why there will be an additional EUR 33 million per year for career orientation and guidance.
MBO institutions look at the needs in the region with the business community and work together on powerful combinations, such as care and technology in Amsterdam and energy and technology in Groningen. Extra attention is paid to the transition tasks in the Netherlands and the combination of working and learning. In any case, an offer close to home is important for many MBO students, also in shrinking areas. The government is making 30 million euros available per year for the period 2024 to 2027.
The Netherlands must continue to learn even after graduation. The aim is for MBO to grow into a crucial educator in terms of retraining and retraining. Last academic year, for example, 1600 graduates with a university and higher professional education diploma started an MBO programme.
Education quality, research and innovation
The government is making a structural allocation of 2 million euros for the basic skills of Dutch, arithmetic and citizenship, as part of the existing Master Plan Basic Skills. The qualification requirements for citizenship education are being redefined so that there is clarity about content and quality requirements. To invest in teachers and team learning in the field of basic skills, 30 million euros will be made available on a structural basis from 2023.
Lecturers: attention to career development, top performance and work pressure
The role of teachers for well-trained MBO students is beyond dispute. This calls for attractive employership of educational institutions and career prospects for people working in MBO. A specific budget of 142 million euros per year has been set for this. Each school draws up a concrete plan for intake, promotion, retention of staff and workload. There will be a Comenius program for excellent teaching and a teaching premium for teaching teams that deliver top performances. A total of 22 million euros is earmarked for this over the next five years.
Research and innovation in MBO will be given a boost. A specific budget of 25 million euros per year is set aside for practitioners and teacher-researchers.
Collaboration and available funds
The MBO work agenda is drawn up together with representatives of students, teachers, municipalities and the business community (such as JOB, BVMBO, the MBO Council, VNO-NCW, MKB-Nederland, SBB and the VNG). The progress of the work agenda is monitored on the basis of measurable indicators. A total of 13 million euros is available for the implementation and monitoring of this work agenda.