Amsterdam, Netherlands - SEO Economisch Onderzoek

transport, finance, financial management and accountancy. These are disciplines with a strongconnection to the economic profile of the Amsterdam metropolitan region. The languagedepartment of VU has recently created the educational programme ‘Arts & Market’, whichfocuses on the economic value of arts and delivers knowledge suitable for the auction houses inAmsterdam. The language department also offers a fashion design programme, which connectswith the strong position of the creative industry in the region. Aside from its educationalprogrammes at undergraduate and graduate level, the VU also provides courses to postgraduates.While these courses have not been set up in response to regional needs, they are popular amongregionally employed people. For instance, within the economics faculty 1,600 employees from(regional) businesses are receiving postgraduate education each year. The VU Law Academy(VULA) organizes postgraduate courses in the field of law. Many lecturers at VULA arepractitioners from the banking industry and law firms. Besides giving education to workingprofessionals, the VU also offers higher education to elderly. This kind of education is providedmore as a form of social responsibility than a way to generate revenue.Compared to UvA and VU, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA) and Hogeschool INHollandoffer a curriculum that is more directed towards meeting regional needs. The content ofeducational programmes at HvA is often shaped in accordance with regional needs. Manyprogrammes use internships as a way to provide practice related knowledge to their students. TheHvA also participates in several initiatives where students work together with regionalstakeholders. For instance, the department of health at HvA has a national training center toeducate nurses and paramedical professionals. It offers training to all regional institutions ofhealth care in Amsterdam. The department of health is currently also developing masterprogrammes in cooperation with working professionals. Another example of demand orientededucation is the plan for an educational programme in media studies. The HvA is currentlyconducting a feasibility study together with media companies in Hilversum to determine if thereis need for such a programme. INHolland has set the explicit aim to accommodate its supply ofeducational programmes to regional needs. The INHolland branch Amsterdam/Diemen isfocusing its educational supply on the theme Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure, the financialsector located on the Zuidas, airport Schiphol, innovation in the medical sector (cooperation withAMC and VUmc), ICT as well as the theme Creative City and media corporations along theHilversum-Amsterdam-Haarlem axis.The research universities UvA and VU see it as their mission to gear students with academiccompetencies in order for them to play a valuable role on the labor market. This implies that inprinciple UvA and VU do not offer educational programmes that are directed towards meeting theshort term need for training students for existing known skill number gaps. One exception areUvA’s forensic sciences programmes, such as the Master in Forensic Science. Conversely,educational programmes at the medical centers AMC and VUmc are quite strongly directed atregional needs, due to their roles as health care providers to the regional community. On the shortterm VUmc educates medical and nursing personnel through the Amstel Academie and PAOG(Post Academic Education Medical Science). AMC has similar programmes to fulfill short termskill number gaps. On the medium to long term, AMC and VUmc provide medical specialisteducational programmes which are for one part directed at regional needs and for the otherdetermined by the regulatory framework and professional standards. Contrary to the universities,educational programmes at HvA are in general more focused on short term regional needs. Forinstance, work-based learning arrangements are frequently used within educational programmes.One example of an initiative at HvA with a more medium to long term focus is ITS-Academy,which has been established by UAS institutions and high schools in the Amsterdam region. Thegoal of ITS-Academy is to promote technical education among high school students.The UvA and VU are offering a number of learning programmes that aim to enhance theenterprising capacity of students to take advantage of regional issues and opportunities. At UvA,the faculty of economics and business has set up the Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship(ACE), which provides the educational programme Entrepreneurship to a broad group of87