Mobility and Internationalisation

There is a great deal of short-term mobility within primary and secondary education. A range of scholarship programmes is run by the European Platform for Internationalisation in Education in order to promote internationalisation in primary and secondary schools. They include European programmes, bilateral programmes and, for example, Embedding International Orientation and Cooperation, the national programme funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Some programmes are designed for pupils or for teachers and school leaders, both prospective and qualified, while others focus on language, teacher training and special projects. There are also several forms of mobility in secondary vocational education and adult education. The government also encourages mobility programmes in higher education, with opportunities for both students and teachers to gain experience abroad.

The Netherlands has various organisations active in the field of international cooperation in education. They serve different sectors of education and include:

• the European Platform for Internationalisation in Education, serving primary and secondary education;
• CINOP (Centre for Innovation in Training), serving adult and vocational educatio;
• Nuffic (Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education), serving higher education.

By enhancing international cooperation, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science:

• aims to boost the quality of education in the Netherlands and improve international competences of teachers, pupils and students.
• encourages educational institutions, students and teachers to have an international outlook and engage in international partnerships and international exchanges.
• supports organisations and institutions operating at international level by, for instance, signing multilateral agreements on the recognition of professional qualifications, quality assurance and accreditation. But also bilateral agreements such as memorandums of understanding which provide frameworks for interinstitutional cooperation.
• Through its participation in multilateral organisations like the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Council of Europe and UNESCO, the Ministry draws on an international body of knowledge that is useful for Dutch national policy.

The international mobility of students and teachers is a straightforward, measurable parameter on which the Ministry reports each year using statistics published by Nuffic.

Curriculum
The international dimension is reflected in the curriculum of both primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands. An example is the focus on foreign languages, for instance early foreign language teaching (VVTO) and bilingual primary education (TPO) in primary schools and intensive foreign language teaching (VTO), bilingual education (TTO) and the ELOS (Europe as a Learning Environment in Schools) programme in secondary schools (see chapter 13.4.1).