The education offered at vocational training (mbo) colleges will be changed to make it more innovative, smaller-scale and more regional, education minister Jet Bussemaker told the Volkskrant on Monday.

The minister told the paper in an interview she wants a sharper differentation between the various levels in mbo education ‘so that more youngsters are convinced to choose craftsmanship’.

At the moment, mbo colleges have a negative image and are considered a last resort for students who are not bright enough to attend applied sciences (hbo) colleges.

‘Too many good craftsmen are lost to the jobs market because practically inclined youngsters ignore an mbo education,’ Bussemaker told the paper. ‘Learning a trade has no status and this must change.’

Name change

Bussemaker plans to change the mbo level 1 into ‘entrance level’ from the start of the next school year. This will offer training as an assistant in such sectors as healthcare, hospitality or hairdressing.

Levels 2 and 3 will be renamed ‘secondary trade education’, while level 4 will become ‘secondary vocational education’. ‘In the US, this level is only just below a university education, but most people in the Netherlands do not realise this,’ Bussemaker said.

Mbo colleges are already making courses shorter (from four to three years) and more intensive (more teaching hours) and the minister wants to introduce additional rules to make it easier for colleges to work together and with industry.

In a reaction, MBO council chairman Jan van Zijl told the Volkskrant that the minister’s plans are a step in the right direction when it comes to improving the status of a vocational education.