On 17 January, the Taskforce on intake of international students of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) at the invitation of the euregio rhine-maas-north as guest of Canon Production Printing in Venlo. The four officials working on the bill had quite a journey to make, given the snowfall. Mayors, employers (organisations), educational institutions and other stakeholders were explained the still-developing Internationalisation in Balance Act (WIB).
The purpose of the bill on internationalisation in balance is to ensure a balance between advantages and disadvantages of internationalisation in higher education. The law gives educational institutions and the minister tools focused on the language of instruction, students' language skills, admitting a maximum number of students to a programme (numerus fixus) and taking direction. This will allow them to better direct. The bill will affect the (eu) region in terms of border effects, the labour market and so-called international uniqueness. Last summer, there was an internet consultation which generated quite a few responses for the ministry. The euregio rhine-maas-north sent an open letter to outgoing education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf calling for a rethink of the situation in the border regions. The letter led to a lot of media attention in both the Netherlands and Germany, with director Maike Hajjoubi explained a lot to the German media in particular.
While it is not yet clear exactly what the law will look like and when it will be introduced, it became clear that the Venlo region would like to see its 360-degree location taken into account. As a metaphor used Michiel Savelsbergh the one-sided picture painted by the annual Atlas for (dutch) municipalities in the border region. If you do include the border location with Germany, the (economic) potential of border cities like Municipality of Venlo, Municipality of Roermond and Municipality of Sittard-Geleen suddenly look very different.
Thanks for the participation and contributions of: Mark Hendriks, Maurice Jongen, Vincent Pijnenburg, Marleen Verberkt, Marcel Frielinck, Ton Raijmakers, Erwin Boom, Stynke Douma, Nicole Ramaekers, Wouter Josso, Katelijn Lukassen-Bouwmans and Thomas Cleij.
Photo (vrnl) mayor Antoin Scholten, Maike Hajjoubi, Mireille Merx-Chermin (Canon) and Mayor Christian Kuesters of the Stadt Nettetal. Some 500 students live in his municipality, who joined Fontys Venlo University of Applied Sciences Study. source: Euregio Rhein-Maas-Nord.
