Stagnating participation in adult education

Fewer people who are no longer in regular secondary or higher education are undertaking some form of training. In 2005, 13.5 percent of this group participated in a course or some form of training. In 2003 this was still 15 percent. Compared with other countries in Europe, the Netherlands ranks behind the leaders.
Rising participation [...]

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Increasing number of women financially independent

The proportion of financially independent women increased between 2000 and 2004, whereas the number of financially independent men dropped.
More men than women financially independent
In 2004, nearly 11 million people in the Netherlands were in the 15-65 age bracket. Over 60 percent of them were financially independent: their net annual income was 10,300 euro or [...]

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Fewer teenage mothers with a foreign background

In 2005 2,795 children were born to mothers aged under 20 years. In 2004 the number of babies born to teenage mothers was 3,004. The number of teenage mothers was relatively highest among girls with a non-western foreign background.
Decrease in teenage births continues
The decrease in the number of teenage births in the Netherlands has been [...]

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Flanders launches charm offensive

Flanders has launched a large-scale campaign in Brussels to make the population of the capital aware of the role that the Flemish community plays in the day to day life of Belgium’s most multi-cultural city.
The Flemish Minister responsible for Flanders’ policy in the capital, Bert Anciaux (progressive regionalist), showed off a series of new [...]

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Report says deaths at Schiphol were preventable

According to a leaked version of an interim report investigating the fire at the detention centre at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, many of the deaths were preventable. The fire broke out in October in the airport detention centre for asylum seekers who are about to be deported. Eleven people died.
The report, by the Dutch Safety [...]

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Dutch public broadcasters launch new schedules

Dutch Public Broadcasting on Monday launched new schedules, and there are major changes to the way programmes are scheduled across the three TV channels.
The changes have been necessitated by a fall in viewing figures and advertising income.
Under the previous system, each of the major broadcasters was allocated slots on a specific channel. The [...]

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Cross borders to find health care, urges EU

The European Union hailed a new era of “patient mobility” yesterday when its most senior health official urged EU citizens to “shop around” for medical treatment from whichever national health service offered the best and most rapid option.
Markos Kyprianou, the health commissioner, spoke at the launch of a drive by Brussels to codify the right [...]

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Cycle paths in poor condition

Cycle paths in Flanders are in need of repair, the Catholic University of Leuven and the Cyclists Association (Fietsersbond) said on Tuesday. The joint study found cycle paths are in a worse condition than the main road running alongside it. The researchers said poor condition of cycle paths has a negative impact on safety and [...]

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Through the lens: ‘Welkom in Maastricht’ Festival: photo impressions of a multicultural city

The city of Maastricht last Saturday welcomed its new inhabitants from all origins during the annual “Welkom in Maastricht” Festival. [More photographs...]

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Top EU official brands Strasbourg shuttle ‘insane’

The campaign to end the European parliament’s expensive monthly commute to Strasbourg received a boost yesterday when a European commissioner criticised it as a sign of “insanity”.
Margot Wallstrom, a commission vice-president, said: “Something that was once a very positive symbol of the European Union, reuniting France and Germany, has now become a negative symbol - [...]

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Labour Party in Amsterdam wants to get rid of term ‘immigrant’

The Amsterdam branch of the Labour (PvdA) party is urging that the word ‘allochtoon’ (immigrant) should not be used any more. According to party leader Manon van der Garde, the term is outmoded.
Van der Garde believes it is important “for groups to be referred to more specifically”. Scrapping ‘allochtoon’ should also combat “us-and-them thinking.” The [...]

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Number of international study programmes in the Netherlands continues to rise

The number of English-taught study programmes offered by higher education institutions in the Netherlands continues to rise. In the 2007-2008 academic year, a total of 1,168 programmes will be available in English, a rise of more than 100 compared to the previous year.
The offering of international programmes covers all areas of the arts and [...]

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Dutch language made compulsory for Pakistanis before visa

The Dutch Government Sunday approved of a special law for Pakistanis that conditions visa sanctioning to compulsory learning of Dutch language. According to the details after terrorist acts in England the Dutch government has taken this strict measure.
[...] It is worth mentioning that there is not a single Dutch language teaching institute in Pakistan.
Full [...]

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Hirsi Ali: Dutch tolerance is only pretence

The Dutch like to call themselves open and tolerant, but in reality they do not like divergent views. They pride themselves on being level-headed, yet the media and political debate are dominated by “emotional voyeurism,” according to Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
The critic of Islam and former MP made her informal farewell this week to Dutch politics. [...]

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Hogeschool Zuyd starts Bachelors in Law programme

In September the Faculty of Law at the Hogeschool Zuyd in Heerlen is starting a new four-year law program, where students will have opportunity of majoring in Law. This program is broadly based. After this, the student can decide on a more generalized legal career or carry on to the Master’s level and receive a [...]

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Euroregional industrial route

With the support of North-Rhine Westphalia’s Euregionale 2008, the Association of Industrial Museums in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion has developed a cross-border industrial route. The route is a part of the ‘European Industrial Heritage Route’ (ERIH) network that presents and promotes Europe’s industrial heritage and culture.
Source: European Industrial Heritage Route via the Meuse-Rhine Journal

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Dutch court allows media bugging

The Dutch intelligence service, AIVD, can tap reporters’ phones - but only under special circumstances, an appeals court in The Hague has ruled.
Full article: BBC News, 1 September 2006

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Netherlands’ image abroad worries Prime Minister

The image of the Netherlands abroad is gloomier than the actual situation, according to Prime Minister Balkenende. “We have insufficiently succeed in the past years in bringing to the attention the achievements of the Dutch society,” he told the annual conference of Dutch ambassadors.
Other countries have indeed noticed that the Netherlands is doing increasingly well [...]

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3 September: Open Day new Netherlands Architecture Museum Institute Maastricht

NAI Maastricht is the new architecture museum of the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine. It is housed in the Wiebengahal on Avenue Ceramique in Maastricht. NAI Maastricht’s aim is to act as a focus for a public discourse on the past, present and future of the designed environment in the Euroregion Meuse-Rhine. Although its primary task will be [...]

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Netherlands need more Chinese cooks

Chinese restaurants in Netherlands are facing a shortage of Chinese cooks, China Online reported Thursday. A local trade union of the Chinese restaurant industry, Chinese consultative agency as well as a Chinese employment company, negotiated with the Dutch government to solve the problem a few days ago.
The whole industry has a vacancy of 4,000 [...]

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