The first round of applications for up to €1,000 to help pay for an officially recognised educational course has been massively oversubscribed, the state jobs agency UWV, which is administering the STAP funding, said on Friday.

The government has set aside €160m to be distributed in five rounds, and the next will start on May 1, when the second batch of €32m will be available. In total, the money is enough to allow at least 160,000 people to follow a course or educational programme.

‘The major amount of interest is confirmation of the need that the STAP process meets,’ UWV director Tof Thissen told news website Nu.nl. ‘Some 35,000 people have applied for funding within a three day period and can now… strengthen their position on the jobs market.’

The funding is open to anyone aged 18 to state pension age and to both Dutch and European nationals and their partners. The course they wish to follow must be officially recognised.