Education mission to the Netherlands 05-2025

On May 21st and 22nd 2025, a delegation of the Hauts-de-France region embarked on a mission to neighbouring country, the Netherlands. As part of its international neighbourhood strategy, our region signed a roadmap (an agreement) with the Netherlands aiming to develop cooperation between our two countries in several areas, including education.

We had the privilege of being part of the delegation and we strived to be active members, seizing every opportunity we had to make connections with potential Dutch partners.

The two days we spent were particularly intense and included welcome speeches by Dutch ambassador Jan Versteeg, presentations of French and Dutch VET (vocational education and training) systems and their similarities, explanation of Campus des Métiers, roundtables, matchmaking and networking sessions, reception at Alliance Française in La Haye, visits of ROC Mondriaan (technical campus in La Haye), YUVERTA (MBO, vocational training school) in Boxtel, and SCALDA (another MBO) in Goes (close to Middelburg, Zeeland).

The field visit allowed us to meet new partners and provided us with opportunities to express our deep interest in collaborating and establishing partnerships with the participating Dutch academic institutions. We were focused on getting partnerships to develop new projects which will would enable our students (in tourism, prosthetics, and social care mainly, but not exclusively) to engage more in their training and develop numerous skills in more active ways. These skills would include language skills (English proficiency) but also soft skills (communication, adaptability, problem-solving)

Several options will be explored in a near future: Erasmus group and individual mobilities, Erasmus+ staff mobility, sharing a network of internships, working on digital projects.