3.8 Development of entrepreneurship competence
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Policy Framework
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (since 2024 called the Ministry of Economic Affairs) launched the Ambitious Entrepreneurship Action Plan (Ambitieus Ondernemerschap Actieplan; 2014). With this plan government wants to provide better access to capital, knowledge, innovation and the global market. This concerns activities such as: early stage financing, strengthening the international position of start-ups and growing businesses, provide temporary residence permits for non-EU entrepreneurs etc.
The curriculum of the Middelbaar Beroepsonderwijs (MBO) (Secondary Vocational Education) has been adjusted with the introduction of options that offer the possibility to directly learn entrepreneurial skills.
An MBO education consists of a qualification part, enriched with one or more optional parts. Students can broaden their skills and gain more in-depth knowledge about a certain subject. The student is obliged to take an exam on the optional subjects but cannot fail as yet. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science wants to make optional subjects obligatory for getting a diploma, starting from 2018.
Regional connection: to enable students to strengthen their position on the labour market in sectors that are strongly represented in the region. E.g. for the harbour of the city of Rotterdam or the watersport industry in Friesland (a northern province in the Netherlands). An optional subject can also be directed towards moving on to a higher level in the MBO school or to Tertiairy Vocational Education (Hoger Beroepsonderwijs; HBO), also known as University of Applied Sciences.
Platform Education2032 advised the Cabinet to design new, forward looking curricula. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland; ROV) and Youth Entrepreneuring (Jong Ondernemen) developed an advice report on this topic in which they indicate that entrepreneurial education should be a basis for the future curriculum. There is an intensive cooperation between different partners such as sector organizations from education and business community to ensure relevant entrepreneurship education.
The Tax authority (Belastingdienst) has developed a teaching package Taxes lesson for Vocational Education (Belastingles voor het mbo) for vocational education students to increase their fiscal consciousness. It is developed in cooperation with the Assocation of teachers in economical-societal subjects (Vereniging van leraren in de economisch-maatschappelijke vakken; Vecon), the Dutch Order of Tax advisors (Nederlandse Orde van Belastingadviseurs; NOB) and the Ministry of Finance.
Non-formal and informal learning
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland; ROV) offers the programme Erasmus for young entrepreneurs | Business square (Erasmus voor jonge ondernemers | Ondernemersplein). The programme helps aspiring European entrepreneurs acquire the skills needed to start and/or successfully run a small business in Europe. It gives new entrepreneurs the opportunity to exchange business ideas and knowledge with an experienced entrepreneur.
Educators support in entrepreneurship education
No information is found on this subject.