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Wednesday, 28 September 2016 - 11:50
Govt. invests €30 mil. to prevent university, college dropouts
The Dutch government is investing 30 million euros into preventing dropouts and wrong study choices in universities, colleges and vocational schools. The money is intended for high schools to better guide their student in their choice of study and the jobs they hope to have when they're done.
In a letter sent to parliament on Wednesday, Education Minister Jet Bussemaker and State Secretary Sander Dekker write that still too many students drop out or change courses halfway through because the made the wrong choice of what to study. To stop this from happening, they will make sure high school students get better career advice from 2018.
The career advice will not only help high school students better understand what they enjoy, but also what job they can hope to attain in that direction and whether any are available on the current and future labor market.
Two years from now 9.6 million euros will be invested into this career advice. That amount will increase to 30 million in 2025. The money comes from funds raised by the student loan system, which is expected to eventually bring in 1 billion euros. All that money will be pushed in to higher education.
"I think it's important that young people start to prepare for the job market early in their education. In this way they can make conscious choices that suit them.", Bussemaker said.
According to Het Parool, 32 percent of first year students dropped out or changed study direction in 2015. That is 38,953 students in total.