Amsterdam, Netherlands - SEO Economisch Onderzoek

elatively bad accessibility of the inner city of Amsterdam and traffic jams in and aroundAmsterdam, most inhabitants of Amsterdam choose to travel by bike or public transport.Closely related to the daily flow of commuters moving out of Amsterdam is the process ofsuburbanization. The Amsterdam region is facing a migration deficit for businesses in terms ofthe number of businesses as well as the number of individuals employed at those businesses (EZAmsterdam, 2006). To counter this trend, the city of Amsterdam is heavily investing in thedevelopment of office space. Its largest and most prestigious project is the development of theZuidas business district along the A10 highway in Southern Amsterdam. At this moment theZuidas district has 270,000 m 2 of office space and provides for 30,000 jobs. Located on theZuidas are mainly financial institutions and professional services firms, as well as VU UniversityAmsterdam and VUmc medical center. In addition, the municipality also invests in thedevelopment of office space in other areas in Amsterdam, particularly in the boroughs Westpoort,Zuidoost and Noord. Estimates from 2005 indicate that the municipality of Amsterdam hascreated enough development capacity to increase the amount of office space with 56% ifnecessary. The boroughs Westpoort and Zuidoost are characterized by large business districts.The borough Noord is a hotspot for the creative industry, which accounts for a substantial shareof the growth in business locations and employment there (TNO, 2004).1.2.4 Location of Higher Education InstitutesThe Amsterdam metropolitan region has a high concentration of Higher Education Institutions(HEIs). Most HEIs are located in the capital city of Amsterdam. The largest ones are the VUUniversity Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Hogeschool INHolland and Hogeschool vanAmsterdam. A number of higher education institutes have multiple locations in the Amsterdammetropolitan area: Hogeschool INHolland, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Hogeschool IPABO,Hogeschool Markus Verbeek, Hogeschool TIO, Hogeschool Praehep, Stichting Hoger OnderwijsNOVI, Hogeschool Thorbecke and Hogeschool Haarlem. There is also the opportunity ofdistance learning. In 1984, the Open University of the Netherlands was established in order tooffer adults a means of pursuing higher education without formal admission requirements and attheir own pace, through distance education (MinOCW, 2007a: 68). The Open University mayoffer both HBO and university courses. HBO is the Dutch equivalent for University of AppliedSciences (hereafter UAS). Other popular institutes that offer courses at HBO or university levelby distance learning are the Leidse Onderwijsinstellingen (LOI) and NCOI. Like the OpenUniversity, they often do not demand a particular educational background from their students.Table 1-2: Higher Education Institutions in the Amsterdam metropolitan regionInstitution City Type of HEI InstitutionaltypeUniversity of Amsterdam University Multi-sectorAmsterdamVU University Amsterdam University Multi-sectorAmsterdamHogeschool van Amsterdam, Almere UAS Multi-sectorAmsterdamHogeschoolINHollandGerrit RietveldAcademieAmstelveen,Amsterdam, Diemen,Haarlem and VelsenUASMulti-sectorAmsterdam UAS Mono-sector(arts)13