7,5 million for the transition from MBO to HBO
Education Minister Jet Bussemaker is making 7,5 million euros available to improve the transition between MBO and HBO. She said this in her speech at the opening of the school year at The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
The money can be used for good transfer programs or to ensure that even more teams of teachers from different schools work together and older students act as mentors. Bussemaker said in yesterday her speech that she is going to ask students from MBO and HBO to contribute ideas about how to spend the money. According to the minister, a good transition still too often depends on accidental good contacts between schools.
A smooth transition is one of the preconditions for equal opportunities. The Social and Cultural Planning Office and the Education Inspectorate have recently warned of increasing inequality of opportunity.
Dropout
Uit figures from the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences from April 2016 it appears that the dropout rate among HAVO students has decreased slightly over the past five years, but that it increased among MBO students. In 2014/2015, more than 14 thousand first-year HBO students dropped out. The dropout rate among first-year MBO students rose from 21 percent in 2010 to 22,4 percent in 2014. It was mainly non-Western male ethnic minority MBO students who dropped out.
Today the National Student Union (LSVb) issued a memorandum which also shows that the number of MBO students who continue their studies is lagging behind. According to the LSVb, one in three students indicates that financial reasons play a role and non-Western immigrants experience many barriers when moving on. The memorandum contains recommendations, such as a special introductory program for first-generation students, which can help to familiarize yourself with studying.
vague reason
Bussemaker is working on the right of admission to MBO, so that students are never denied further education for vague reasons. Student organization JOB for MBO students noticed in recent months that many students were again unjustly refused, the organization announced at the end of August. Bussemaker: 'The most important task of institutions is to give all their students every opportunity to achieve their ultimate goal.'
