The Dutch education system is targeted at the ‘integration’ and inclusion of migrant students in primary and post-primary education, and does not address per se any of the issues around migrant students in higher education (Taguma et al, 2009). The school drop-out rate is high among Dutch students but it is twice as high among the established ethnic minority groups (Thijs et al, 2008; Herweijer, 2009). The national objectives set out to ‘reduce the annual number of new early school-leavers by 50% between 2002 and 2012’; this was a maximum reduction of 35,000 new drop-outs (Thijs et al, 2008, 28). There are a number of specific characteristics associated with the drop-out rate. Students are more likely to come from single parent families (24%) and low income families with high levels of poverty (25%) (Thijs et al, 2008). The highest drop-out concentrations are found in the four main cities, Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht (Thijs et al, 2008, 29). The enrolment rate for ethnic minority students in higher education was 12% in 2008 (Thijs et al, 2008, 33) and they remain under-represented in the academic stream of post-primary education (Herweijer, 2009). Immigrant students in the Netherlands are at a greater disadvantage than the indigenous Dutch student, not only because of their socio-economic background but also because of language skills (Schnepf, 2006). This is the experience particularly for first and second generation migrant students (Schnepf, 2007). The statistics show that 20% of the population of the Netherlands has a non-western background (Thijs et al, 2008, 31).
The main differences in the Dutch education system begin in post-primary education streams. The following is a list of acronyms associated with the Dutch post-primary and higher education systems:
133 BOL - Full-time vocational programmes
HAVO - General secondary education HBO - Professional higher education MBO - Vocational education
VAVO - Adult education
VMBO - Pre-vocational secondary education VO - Secondary education
VSO - Secondary special education VWO - Pre-university education WO - Academic higher education (Akkerman, 2011, 5).
The higher education system in the Netherlands is exclusively reserved for young people. Furthermore, non-traditional students who have entered the higher level system frequently report an innate ‘sense of insecurity’, coupled with boundaries they had to overcome, not only to access university courses, but right throughout college life (Amsing, 2011). Students, for example, who came from the vocational stream system felt inferior in the University sector (Amsing, 2011). Moreover, the transfer options between the streams remain very limited and restrictive.
The situation is more precarious for non-traditional students who may seek to address their education needs through the Dutch private education sector. The private education sector is not equally accessible. It is also much more expensive than the public sector and there is no coherent structure in the delivery and provision of courses (Amsing, 2011). Accordingly, the current Dutch higher education system addresses the needs of young people and the privileged few (Amsing, 2011). In 2008, for example, the statistics show that 26% of people aged in their twenties in the Netherlands were in education, while 3% of people in their thirties were in education. Only 1% of the over 40 age group was in the education system in the Netherlands (Thijs, et al, 2008, 28). This is a major failing of the Dutch education system as it ignores the education needs of practically everyone over the age of thirty. In order to verify that policy in the Netherlands does not specifically address the higher education needs of ethnic minority groups over the age of thirty, this researcher contacted a representative from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and asked two specific questions.
134 The first question asked how the Netherlands addresses the needs of
older migrants (over 30 years of age) in their higher education system. The response was as follows – ‘in the Netherlands we don’t have a
specific policy which focuses on the needs of older migrants in higher education. Institutions are free to decide whether they want to focus on this specific group. (Institutions are autonomous to decide)’
The second question asked if there is a policy in the Netherlands that addresses the education needs of migrants in low skilled, low paid employment over 30 years of age. The corresponding response was as follows – ‘No, in the Netherlands we don’t have a specific policy for
these migrants. (There is no policy distinction between people with a migrant background and natives. The policy focuses more on social- economic factors that can be hindering in education, but this is especially the case or primary and secondary education)’
(Representative from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Government of the Netherlands, 8 July 2014).
The late Professor Max van der Kamp, an established authority on adult education and andragogy, was highly critical of Dutch colleges and universities who made no provision to adapt their degree programmes for adult learners who wish to return to education (Amsing, 2011). Van der Kamp was also highly critical of the Dutch higher level system because of the lack of initiatives for the inclusion and participation of non-traditional students in the Dutch higher education system (Amsing, 2011).
VAVO (Dutch adult education) provides a ‘second chance’ opportunity but it mainly targets basic language and numeracy skills for older adults. The education for adult migrants is specifically aimed at preparing the migrant to take the civic integration tests, in addition to learning the Dutch language (Eurofound, 2011). Moser (2012) classifies this approach as an institutional barrier because it does not address the higher education needs of many ethnic minority groups (Moser, 2012). People with low levels of literacy skills and school drop-outs are the current target groups for up-skilling in employment (Eurofound, 2011); ethnic minority groups are not specifically targeted. Adult literacy is a problem in the Netherlands; there is a total of over one and a half million Dutch citizens with low levels of literacy skills (de Haan, 2012, 4). This is a
135 substantial number, although it is being addressed to a certain extent. Again there is an increased focus on basic common skills. However well intended, this does not address the skills of groups of migrant workers or unemployed migrants. The next section explores student finance.