In more and more student cities, secondary vocational education students (MBO) take part in the general introduction days. But they are not yet welcome everywhere, or they do not know how to find the introduction days.
The website of the OWee, Delft’s introduction week, talks about a ‘multi-day event for all upcoming first-year students of TU Delft, Inholland University of Applied Sciences and The Hague University of Applied Sciences. That MBO students are also welcome is not clear from the text. Yet that was the case for the 13th year in a row, says liaison community relations Alex Lokhorst. ‘But not a single mbo student ended up participating.’
In Eindhoven, seven hundred MBO students were given access to the joint introduction party for all new students. According to the Eindhovens Dagblad newspaper, this was an ‘empty gesture’, as a total of five thousand tickets were available for college and university students.
Still, Eindhoven is ahead, compared to other cities. At the Eureka week in Rotterdam, MBO students were not welcome. In Maastricht, MBO students were allowed to participate in the introduction days, but did not come. Only five students registered. And Leiden talks about the ‘official introductory week of Leiden University’ on its website, while since 2014, students of the university of applied sciences (HBO) have also participated. And since last year, there is also room for up to 100 MBO students.
More attention
In recent years, more attention has been paid to the position of MBO students. Since 2020, they have been called ‘students’ instead of pupils by law. Since then, they have been fighting for access to student houses and student cafés with greater or lesser success.
(HOP, OL/Delta, MvdV)
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