Although the amount of Dutch students enrolled in technical studies is stable, around 30,000 technical positions go unfilled each year due to a lack of qualified workers. A new ‘technology pact’, signed recently by Dutch businesses, educational institutions, unions, and governmental bodies, hopes to solve this issue by attempting to attract more international tech students.
The pact proposes an increase of internships and scholarships for talented foreign tech students, as well as a strong recruiting link with universities.
Currently, only 7% of international students are enrolled in a technical study, with only 27% of those remaining in The Netherlands to work upon completing their programme. To solve this issue that is sure to cause more and more tension in the coming years if left unattended, industry in the field wants to see the development of more traineeships and apprenticeships for international students, while companies in the sector have promised to provide thousands of scholarships for exceptional Dutch and international science and technology students.
The universities, contributing some recently published advice from the Social and Economic Council on how to keep foreign talent in The Netherlands to the pact, will participate in this joint effort to attract more national and international students to technical studies. Acknowledging the importance of primary and secondary education in igniting an interest in technology in students, the pact also suggests an increase of investment in technology programmes at the lower levels of education.
Nuffic director, Freddy Weima, believes this technology pact will be a good step in the right direction and plans to help the various organisations achieve the goals and agreements the pact has set out. Nuffic is an independent, non-profit organisation in The Netherlands that is dedicated to international cooperation in higher education.
See programmes of universities offering technical studies.
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