2026

Ministries launch trainee programme for vocational education graduates (MBO)

Ministries formulate policies that shape the Netherlands. We can further improve the quality of these policies by adding more and different perspectives to the group of policymakers. To encourage this, the Ministries of Education, Culture and Science and the Interior and Kingdom Relations will launch a programme specifically aimed at vocational education (MBO) graduates on 1 February 2026. This is a welcome addition to the existing traineeship for higher professional education and university graduates. Applications for the vacancy are open as of today.

The VET- traineeship is a two-year programme in which VET-graduates will work at the heart of policy. During three assignments of eight months each, they will be involved in, among other things, realising affordable housing, thinking about how education in the Netherlands can be improved, and how we can make fair decisions together in our democracy. The trainee programme is a full-time job with built-in opportunities for guidance and training. This allows new entrants to get to know the national government and keeps the younger generation closely involved in the policies of tomorrow.

Cabinet allocates €36.6 million to 39 projects focused on lifelong development

The LLO Catalyst (Lifelong Learning and Development Catalyst) is a long-term investment program designed to promote lifelong development across sectors and regions. The initiative responds to increasing labor market shortages, declining productivity, and other social challenges. Educational institutions are collaborating with businesses and social organizations to support innovation and professional development, especially through retraining, further education, and workplace learning.

The Dutch government is investing €36.6 million in 39 projects as part of the third application round of the LLO Catalyst program, funded by the National Growth Fund. The projects aim to foster collaboration between employers, educational institutions (vocational, higher professional, and university education), and private training providers. They focus on retraining and upskilling professionals to meet the needs of the energy and raw materials transition. This brings the total number of LLO projects to 94 across the country.

Fewer dropouts in vocational education

The number of early school leavers (ESL) in secondary vocational education (MBO) decreased by almost 2,000 in the 2023-2024 academic year, showing positive progress. However, the challenge remains, with the goal of reducing ESL numbers to under 18,000 by 2026. The Minister of Education, Culture, and Science emphasized the continued focus on supporting students, especially those for whom a basic qualification is not achievable, to find employment opportunities.

The drop in ESLs is partly attributed to an action plan implemented in October 2023, which provides better support for students. This includes personalized guidance, cooperation between schools, municipalities, and transfer points, and addressing the root causes of dropout, such as personal issues, course mismatches, lack of qualifications, and insufficient school-to-work transition support.

From January 2026, €90 million per year will be allocated to ensure these measures are accessible to all students, up from the current €50 million. While reducing ESLs remains a key goal, the broader aim is to provide better support to keep students engaged in education.

In 2022, the number of ESLs reached 30,000, primarily due to COVID-19 and a tight labor market. Despite improvements in vocational education, the overall challenge remains significant, with 29,163 dropouts in 2023-2024. An increase in ESLs in secondary education is partly due to newcomers dropping out prematurely. A plan to improve education for newcomers will be presented in the coming months.

Suriname and the Netherlands strengthen cooperation in education and research

The education ministers of Suriname and the Netherlands have launched the Netherlands-Suriname Educational Institutions Cooperation (SONS) platform during a Dutch state visit to Suriname. This marks the start of closer cooperation between the involved knowledge institutions, bringing coherence and focus to decades of individual initiatives. The platform aims to provide students and researchers with new cross-border collaboration opportunities.

The long-standing ties between Surinamese and Dutch educational institutions are strengthened by shared language, history, and education system similarities, as well as the Surinamese community in the Netherlands. SONS promotes sustainable, equal cooperation in vocational education, higher professional education, and universities, facilitating knowledge sharing, innovation, and the joint development of future-oriented education that meets both countries' social needs.

The platform will focus on joint curriculum development, teacher professionalisation, and initiating exchange and research projects on current social issues. Specific initiatives include:

• Creating agreements and policies between institutions for exchanges and internships that better align with the needs of students and Surinamese study programmes.
• Promoting interdisciplinary projects in areas like biodiversity, health, agriculture, food security, and technology.

The platform is the result of the Memorandum of Understanding and education agenda signed by both countries in June 2023. It formalises years of cooperation, with a letter of intent signed during the state visit. The new formal cooperation will be based on reciprocity, equality, and sustainable impact.

2025

Targeted support in vocational education for language and math

Many new vocational education students currently need extra support in language and math. That is why the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science has allocated €47.2 million for the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 academic years, so that vocational education institutions can invest in extra guidance, for example by hiring additional teaching staff. The aim is to prevent study delays and dropouts among students as much as possible. 

Additional training programs have also been developed for teachers of Dutch, math, and citizenship to improve their subject-specific and didactic skills.

A good command of basic skills (language, mathematics, and citizenship) by vocational education students ensures that they are better able to cope in society, perform their profession well, or successfully move on to further education.

2024

Act on transition from school to sustainable employment

This law will better assist young people who are distanced from the labour market. In order to utilise as much labour potential as possible, the transition from education to the labour market will be improved. Young people who need it will receive support from schools, transfer points and municipalities, which are obliged to work together in this regard. This support is available to young people up to the age of 27 who are in vocational education, special secondary education, professional secondary education and early school leavers.

The aim of the law is to increase equal opportunities among young people by enabling better guidance in the transition from school to work and in retaining employment.

The law has four key priorities:

1. Guidance from schools: schools offer additional career guidance during education and after the student has obtained their diploma, focused on the transition to further education or work.
2. Guidance by transition centres: transition centres offer young people without a basic qualification up to the age of 27 (previously up to 23) guidance towards school or work.
3. Support from local authorities: local authorities offer young people up to the age of 27 more preventive and appropriate support to return to school, work or a combination of both.
4. Joint regional programme: parties are required to work together in a supplementary regional programme.

Investment in talent for the microchip sector

The government wants to train more technicians for the microchip sector. From 2024 to 2026, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science will invest €80.9 million in educational institutions to ensure that 33,000 additional technicians are trained by 2030. The government has decided to invest in this in order to further grow the microchip sector, thereby contributing to the economy and security. In addition, there are various collaborations between vocational education institutions, colleges, and universities to get more technicians into the labor market. For example, by having people from the business community teach courses to better align training with practice.

Cabinet invests €22 million in lifelong development from Growth Fund

The Minister of Education, Culture and Science  committed to investing a total of more than €22 million in projects for lifelong development (leven lang leren - LLO). This will be dedicated to 17 grant applications of the first funding application round. The funds comes from the National Growth Fund for the so-called LLO. It concerns 11 large projects with a subsidy of up to €22 million and 6 small projects with a maximum grant of €125,000. The projects pay specific attention to the energy and raw materials transition.

Lifelong learning and the business community 
The grant applications are aimed at collaborations between the labour market and education, specifically when it comes to training professionals for the transition to cleaner energy and raw materials. In this way, the projects give an impulse to the joint innovation, learning, training and working of education and business. It also accelerates the development of the right skills for the demands of the regional labour market, in particular through the use of reskilling and upskilling.

Subsidy
In the second round of the National Growth Fund the Dutch government has announced that it is investing almost €400 million in the National Growth Fund proposal 'the National LLO Catalysator'. To this end, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science published 2 subsidy schemes with multiple application rounds in July 2023. The second round of applications for both grant schemes will open on the first of April 2024.