MBO Students Are Welcome at Almost All Introduction Week for Students This Year. However, Many of Them Still Don’t Know How to Find the Intro Week. Participation of MBO Students Remains particularly Low in the Traditional Student Cities.
When then minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education) Announced Plans in 2022 to Equate MBO Students with HBO Students and University Students, they Were Hardly Welcome At Introduction Weeks. Encouraged by Dijkgraaf, A Number of Introduction Weeks in Cities Ran Pilots That Year in which a small number of MBO Students Were (Partly) Allowed to Participate in the Program.
Three Years Later, MBO Students Are Welcome Almost Everywhere for the Entire Introduction Program, Accordination to a Survey by NU.nl. Whether the nine intro week that nu.nl approached, seven say that mbo students are completely welcom.
After Two Successful Pilots, The El Cid in Leiden is also completely Convinced. MBO Students Are Allowed to Participate in the Program There For The First Time. “We think this is a great step in contributing to more equality between the different types of education and a more inclusive el cid,” Says the Organization.
MBO Students Do Not Participate in The Introduction Week Only in Wageningen and Rotterdam. The Wageningen Aid Says That It Regularly Seeks Contact With Local MBO Institutions, But Says That There is “Little Enthusiasm”. The Eurekaweek (Rotterdam) Says That The Emphasis of the Intro Week is on University students. However, The Organization is Doing A Trial This Year with the Participation of HBO Students.
MBO Students Increasingly Involved in Organization
Some introduction week are only for students of a specific university. This is the case with the intro week of the TU Eindhoven and the kick-in week of the University of Twente. But thesis cities are also doing more and more to allow mbo students to get to know HBO and WO Students Outside the Introduction Weeks.
For example, The Kick-in Says That They Are Organizing An Introduction Concert Together with the Municipality of Enschede Where Everyone is Welcome. In Eindhoven, Various Educational Institutions Are Joining Forces for a Large Introduction Event in the City Center. Approximately 10,000 students Attend, including Approximately 3,500 MBO students.
In Addition to Participating in Almost All Cities, MBO Students and MBO Schools are also Becoming More Actively Involved in the Organization. OWEE (Delft), The Uitweek (Utrecht), El Cid and Leip! (Leeuwarden), Among Others, Say They Actively Involve MBO Students.
Always Involved in the Organization is in Leeuwarden, at Least One MBO student. No Fewer than Five MBO Schools Are Participating in The Utrecht OUT WEEK THIS YEAR. In Addition, Intro Week’s Are Doing More to Involve MBO Students in the Program. The Groningen Kei-Week is introducing the MBO Welcome This Year, an Initiative in which MBO Students Receive Tips for Their Study Period.
Enthusiasm in Traditional Student Cities Remains Low
However, this does not yet mean that mbo students have found their way to introduction week everywhere. The Number of MBO Registrations is Still Limited, Especialally in Traditional Student Cities Such As Leiden, Groningen, Delft, Maastricht and Utrecht.
The Owee-Week (Delft) Says That It is Actively Working with MBO Institutions to Bring The Introduction Week to the Attention of MBO Students. This year, The Delft Intro Week is also organizing a Special MBO Day and Is Lowering Ticket Prices for MBO Students.
Despite the Efforts, No Registrations Were Received. “That Doessn’t Mean there is no interest, but it does mean that it remains a difficult target group to reach,” The Organization Says. The Uitweek Sees the Same Thing. Recruitment is Actively Carried Out Through MBO Schools, Sometimes Even More than by Universities and the University. But this year it led to only fifty mbo registrations out of a total of three thousand participants.
‘A Very Positive Development’
Interest Groups for MBO Say in response to the nu.nl survey that they are pleased with the progress that intro week’s have made in recent years. “Former Minister Dijkgraaf Has Really Tasks Steps Towards Equal Appreciation,” Says Maurits Brus, Chairman of Job MBO. “We indeed see that MBO Students are now participating Much Morefully,” Confirms Jessy Burgers, Spokesperson for the MBO Council.
However, Both Organizations Believe That There Are Still Steps to Be Taken. Burgers Recognizes the Gap Between the traditional student cities and cities where vocational education is Large. An Example of this is Zwolle, where no ferwer than four thousand MBO Students Participate in The Bruisweken. MBO Students Have also Been Participating Fully in Leip! For Years.
The Fact That Enthusiasm is Lagging Beind in Other Places May Be Due to a Number of Factors. First of all, Many Introduction Week Point to the Age Difference Between MBO and HBO or WO Students. First-year MBO Students Are Often Fifteen or Sixteen When they Start Their Studies, While People at HBO or University Are Sometimes Already Eighteen or Nineteen.
Brus also think that there is definitely enthusiasm, but that many mbo students still mistakenly think that an introduction week is not for them. “Communication about the intro week is still more focused on HBO and WO,” he says. “MBO Institutions Could Take a Step in this. And Secondary Schools Could Provide Better Information.”
MBO Students Not Always Welcome in Pubs or Student Houses
Finally, Many MBO Students Still Do Not Feel Likefully-FLED GREED, Think Burgers and Brus. MBO Students Are not Welcome in some Student Pubs or at Student Sports Associations.
They Sometimes Have More Difficulty Finding Rooms because MBO Students are excluded in Room Advertisements. “That is done on the base of prelimons that are not true at all,” Brus explains. “It is though that mbo students lead a very different life or are more antisocial, but that is not the case at all.”
The Fact that MBO Students Are Now Welcome At Introduction Week Contributes to the Feeling That They are fully-FlyDed Students, Think Burgers and Brus. But it will take time before they will blindly find their way to the introduction week.
Introduction Week are intended to introduce students to their studies, Fellow Students and Student City. The Activities Vary from Information Days to Parties. Tens of Thousands of Students Attend the Intro Week every year.
The intro week in Groningen, Leiden and Utrecht started this week. Other intro week will follow later in August.