English Visitors

ROC Arcus College
Benzenraderweg 1
6411 EC Heerlen
tel. 045 - 5606700
e-mail: info@arcuscollege.nl
URL: www.arcuscollege.nl

ROC's, AOC's and Vocational schools
The BVE sector (Vocational Training and Education and Adult Education) consists in 71 educational institutes comprising regional educational centres, agricultural educational centres and vocational schools.

The regional educational centres (ROCs in Dutch) offer VET in technology, economics, personal/social services, health care and adult education.

The agricultural educational centres (AOC's in Dutch) offer pre-vocational secondary and VET in the agricultural sector and in food technology.

Vocational schools offer programmes for one branch of industry only, such as graphic arts and design, butchery, house painting, furniture making, the fishing industry and shipping and transport.

Courses in BVE
BVE is the combination of secondary Vocational Education and Training (VET) and adult education in the Netherlands. VET is the main supplier to the labour market and is often regarded as the ‘backbone of society’. Approximately 40% of the Dutch working population have completed a vocational course to at least a secondary vocational training level. There are currently 625,000 students in the BVE sector, 475,000 of them taking part in VET. The government invests about 2.6 billion euros annually in this sector, which represents approximately 12% of the total budget for education.

Vocational Education and Training (VET)
VET provides several programmes to young people, from the age of 16, to develop their skills and increase their employability. Students can choose between two ‘learning routes’. One is a school-based system with full-time education (BOL), the other is a work-based block/day-release system (BBL), in which students combine work and study.

The duration of the courses varies from six months to four years, dependent on the level of the course. VET has four training levels:
level 1:  assistant training
level 2:  basic vocational training, leading to fledgling qualified tradesman level
level 3:  vocational training, leading to independent tradesman level
level 4:  middle-management and specialist training

In both the school-based and the work-based systems and at every training level, all students have to spend part of their course on work experience in order to obtain a diploma. This means that all students acquire a thorough practical knowledge during their training.

Innovating vocational training
The qualification structure describes all the occupations for which the sector offers vocational courses, plus the competences needed to practise those occupations. This structure, which is the mainstay of Dutch vocational training, is designed and maintained jointly by vocational schools and employers’ and employees’ representatives.

The qualification structure is undergoing extensive remodelling towards competence-based learning in order to meet society’s needs for modern and flexible employees. Qualifications must be broadly based and robust and should indicate what qualities and attitudes are needed in the work place, not how a training course should be designed. Thus, vocational education can be more practical and offer institutions and companies greater scope for tailoring education to the needs of the region and the abilities of the student.

Adult education
Adult education is accessible for adults from the age of 18 onwards and offers various programmes for their development. Adult education offers, for example, introductory courses for immigrants into the Netherlands, language and literacy courses at various levels and second-chance secondary education. It plays a major role in integration issues and contributes to social cohesion.

Education and courses on a contract basis
The institutes also offer education and courses on a contract basis, such as refresher courses and in-service training for employees and training programmes for the unemployed. This type of education provides for ‘life-long learning’ opportunities.