In ‘The Netherlands in the World’ the Innovation Platform (IP) sets out the ambition for primary and secondary international education in the Netherlands to be in the top 5 by 2015. In today’s globalising world it is important to offer an appealing base for international companies. For expats employed by these companies a good educational system for their children is very important. A company will also benefit from a country where the working population has an international orientation.

Advice from Deuren Open! (Open Doors!) report
The IP has analysed the current position and the quality of international education in the Netherlands. This shows that the offering from international schools (primary and secondary) is very mixed compared to other countries. The quality of the various types of international school is reasonable to good. There are a number of stumbling blocks which can be resolved fairly easily. Hence the offering is not very transparent and is hard for the outside world to view. Marketing could therefore offer substantial benefits.

The focus is also gradually shifting from the 'traditional' international school (like the British School or American School) towards internationalisation of education. Fewer and fewer international companies are prepared to pay their expats a large allowance to cover their children’s school fees. There is therefore a shift taking place from the expensive private schools to the Dutch International Schools. Bilingual Education is also growing rapidly; more and more Havo (Higher General Secondary Education) and VWO (Pre-University Education) schools offer a bilingual programme. However, the International Baccalaureate is not offered everywhere, nor is it universally recognised as the official curriculum. This can pose an obstacle later for both expat children and children who want to study abroad. There are also often problems in setting up an international school, particularly in terms of premises. The responsibility lies with the local authority, which would benefit from guidance to facilitate setting up an international school.

Recommendations

The IP therefore has three recommendations:

Cabinet response to Deuren Open! advice
The Cabinet supports the IP’s objective of making International Education in the Netherlands a 'selling point' for our country. It can also broadly accept the IP’s analysis of the current position and the quality of International Education in the Netherlands. The Cabinet is adopting recommendations 1 and 3 as described above: it will establish how these recommendations can be implemented, insofar as this lies within its area of responsibility. A pilot project is also being carried out with regard to recommendation 2. With regard to this recommendation the Cabinet will investigate whether and how this can be followed up, whereby reference will be made to the findings of the pilot project.