Good education through the Educational Agenda Limburg

Why do we need an Educational Agenda Limburg—surely the link between education and the labour market is a national, not a provincial, issue? It’s not the first time Schils has heard the question. She and her colleagues from Maastricht University had to pull out all the stops to get the intended grant providers (including the Province of Limburg) on board. “In several respects, Limburg simply isn’t comparable with other regions. Because of its location, the province is often oriented more towards Belgium and Germany than the Netherlands. And the problems that certain regions face are bigger than elsewhere: ageing, a shrinking labour market. In the former mining areas, unemployment is systematically higher, incomes and labour participation lower. There are fewer people who go on to higher education, and more people with health problems, more school leavers, teenage mothers, young people turning to crime. Cities like The Hague and Rotterdam face specific challenges too, but they’re completely different. And those are large cities, while Parkstad, for example, is a collection of smaller municipalities. That calls for a different approach and greater cooperation.”