Netherlands

Director of the EU STEM Coalition, Beatrice Boots, was recently interviewed by the German magazine ‘’Niederlande Nachrichten’’. Find below the English translation of the interesting article.

The shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions is not just a problem in Germany. Managing Director Beatrice Boots from the Dutch 'Platform Talent voor Technologie' (PTvT, Dutch National Platform Science & Technology) is joining forces with numerous European initiatives in order to learn and benefit from the experiences of others. "German support for vocational training is urgently needed." The shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions is becoming an increasingly pressing problem for Germany. Think, for example, of professions in the energy transition, digital innovation or healthcare technology. STEM graduates are urgently needed in sectors where there are major social problems. This is already clearly noticeable in Germany. Technical professions such as the metal and electrical industry and the STEM sector are particularly hard hit, writes the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. When the ministry asked entrepreneurs in 2010 whether they had difficulties filling vacancies, 16% said yes. In 2018, the figure was already 50%.

This situation threatens to worsen when you consider that the number of people aged between 20 and 65 in employment is set to fall by 3.9 million by 2030. By 2060, the number of people in employment will fall by a further 10.2 million if no measures are taken.

Shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions: More than 20 years of experience in supporting vocational training

However, the shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions is not a typically German problem, says Director Beatrice Boots from the Dutch National Platform for Science & Technology (PTvT). "This is happening in the Netherlands just as it is in other European countries. In the Netherlands, we were founded as a platform 20 years ago by the Ministries of Education, Economic Affairs and Social Affairs to tackle this challenge."

At the time, Boots went to work as a researcher for the PTvT to find out where the root of the problem lay. "We realised that there was often a mismatch between business and education. There was no good dialogue between schools and businesses about what skilled workers are needed for the jobs of the future. Companies complain that there are not enough technically trained people, and the education system often accuses companies of not getting involved enough."

Shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions

A better match between education and business needs requires a stronger commitment from both sides. "The government can support this dialogue. In this way, we can make education smarter and better, because ultimately we have to do this together. With the results of this dialogue, you then have to get to work. And that pays off. Companies that invest in education get staff more quickly and easily.

Dialogue on skills shortages in STEM professions needed at regional, national and international level

This dialogue should not only be conducted at a national level, but also at a regional level. "The challenges can vary greatly from one region to another. Let's say there is a strong chemical industry in one region, then the training has to match this. That may sound very logical, but in practice there is often no coordination."

This cooperation between education, industry and government, also known as the Triple Helix in the Netherlands, is laid down in a technology pact between the partners. "This ensures that the regional focus returns and a long-term vision is guaranteed," says Boots. "In order to have enough qualified labour in the region, you have to make several adjustments."

This starts with getting pupils interested in STEM training. "Then you have to make sure at school that the students don't drop out and that they then find the right job. After that, you have to make sure that young professionals are kept in the industry. The line of continuous learning has to be right."

International attention for Dutch approach

"The lessons PTvT has learnt in the fight against the skills shortage in STEM professions are attracting international attention," says Boots. "The skills shortage has decreased significantly in the first few years, so our approach is working," she says. However, when the government had to make cuts due to the financial crisis, this was immediately noticeable. "Since 2015, we have been able to catch up again and this is also reflected in the figures. Because we have documented our approach well, we often receive visits from foreign delegations."

International attention also came from the then President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso. "At his request, there was more dialogue between various European initiatives, which led to the EU STEM Coalition."

Shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions

The EU STEM Coalition is now reflected in new European measures such as the Digital Services Act and the Chips Act. Another promising initiative is the Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs), which act as skills ecosystems at regional level across Europe. Here, 400 million euros have been made available for the establishment of 100 CoVEs. "Think of the skills needed for the big transitions, like now in the hydrogen sector."

European cooperation needed to combat the skills shortage in STEM professions

However, the skills shortage in STEM professions is far from over, says the PTvT Director. "We have always seen that higher education and universities in particular receive a lot of state funding. Vocational education is lagging behind here. That's why we need to make our voices heard in Europe so that STEM education also receives appropriate funding. We can achieve more with a larger network."

Shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions

Education remains a matter for the countries themselves, but the European exchange of good examples brings a lot. "The Dutch technology pact, for example, is now being copied in many countries." Conversely, the Netherlands is also learning from other European initiatives. "We discovered how popular the First Lego League is in North Rhine-Westphalia. That encouraged us to organise this international robotics programme for pupils aged 9 to 15 in the Netherlands too."

European parliamentary elections

Boots wants to use the European Parliament elections to put the topic of STEM on the European agenda in the long term. "We agree across Europe that we need to invest in the skilled trades. Especially now, when we need many skills for important transitions such as digitalisation and sustainability. That's why we want to ensure that more financial resources are made available."

Shortage of skilled labour in STEM professions

The Director is also thinking about the use of EU funds such as Erasmus+ programmes. "Here, a stronger focus can be placed on topics such as STEM/STEM for areas with major upheavals and social issues and more attention can be paid to vocational education and training, especially at secondary level."

Boots is therefore not in favour of new projects, but of strengthening existing structures. "They deserve more support. We can expand what works well." This is reflected, among other things, in the European STEM memorandum, which will be presented to Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon at the end of February 2024. The handover will take place on 29 February at the State Representation of North Rhine-Westphalia in Brussels.

This will be followed by EuroSkills Herning 2025 in Denmark, an event at which hundreds of young people from 32 countries will compete against each other to become masters in their trades. There will also be discussions behind the scenes about improving vocational training. "It would be nice if we could say in some time: The Copenhagen Accord 2025 has made a difference to vocational education and training," she says.

Joining the EU STEM Coalition

From Germany, Global Talent Mentoring, matrix gGmbH, MINTvernetzt, Nationales MINT Forum e. V., Science on Stage Europe and ZDI Nordrhein-Westfalen are already participating in the EU STEM Coalition.

The secretariat of the EU STEM Coalition is currently run by the Dutch National STEM Platform (PTvT) with offices in The Hague and Utrecht (Netherlands). If you have any questions about the EU STEM Coalition or its partners, please contact info@stemcoalition.eu.

We had the opportunity to interview Stefanie Schlunk, who holds the chair of the largest STEM network in Europe, Science on Stage Europe. Here, you can find out about the exciting work being done by Science on Stage, great opportunities which the organization provides, and more. 

Paradoxically, Nordic countries, which are usually renowned for their egalitarianism as well as devotion to gender equality, exhibit an alarmingly low rate of female involvement in the field of STEM. This fact is all the more surprising when considering that countries with more traditional gender roles, such as Poland and Romania, in fact, have considerably higher rates of female participation in STEM than the Nordic countries. 
This research sheds light on the unexpected Nordic STEM gender gap by examining Eurostat data, and then illustrating that data through interviews which were conducted with members of several Nordic institutions who are active in the field of STEM education.

The EU STEM Coalition's April 2023 Newsletter.

This Newsletter includes the following topics:

• News from the secretariat
• Information on task forces
• An interview with the chair of Science on Stage Europe
• A blogpost on the STEAM+ Jamboree
• Best practices in STEAM education 

                                                                        The STEAM+ Jamboree

Key takeaways:

• STEAM+

• Global Issues

• Interdisciplinary cooperation

• Trail

• Design for Impact

        My name is Matthew Coates, and I am a project manager with the EU STEM Coalition. The EU STEM Coalition is an international network of organizations in the field of STEM. It is dedicated to facilitating knowledge sharing, and generally assisting in the development of STEM education all across Europe. To this end, I occasionally have the chance to partake in conferences. I do so as to take the pulse of the STEM educational world, and share my findings with the organization’s network, as well as anyone interested in the topic.

       On March the 30th, 2023, I had the pleasure of being able to attend the STEAM+ Jamboree at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen, The Netherlands. The event was hosted by STEAM+, a project involving 18 partners from all over the European Union. The Jamboree itself was being attended by a large and international crowd. There was a wide range of countries represented. These included, but were not limited to, nations as disparate as Norway and Romania. The attendees themselves were not only diverse in their nationality, but also in their professions. The name tags which were assigned to us upon entry to the auditorium indicated that professors, government officials, students, and PhD candidates from all over Europe had come to Groningen to learn about STEAM+.

        Before describing the events of this Jamboree, it is important to clarify some terms and concepts. What is perhaps most essential to first understand is the meaning of the acronym STEAM+. According to the programs organizers, STEAM+ stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, (All other subjects), and Math. With this in mind, the STEAM+ project intends to provide educational policy makers with informational tools. These tools are designed to develop interdisciplinary groups aimed at addressing modern issues. Specifically, issues requiring a STEM based solution. They call the interdisciplinary groups “laboratories of Innovation”.

        The theory behind the laboratories of Innovation is that having a group of people from a diverse range of backgrounds cooperate together in an equal and nonhierarchical context is an optimal means to solve the societal problems of today. The STEAM+ project believes that when people from a wider range of expertise work together towards the same ends, in the same group, they will come to more appropriate and effective solutions than teams who consist of members specializing in only one subject. These groups can also include individuals who would normally not work together as colleagues in the same settings, such as students, professors, and even policymakers.

                                                                   Keynote Speaker

         Before diving into the subject of the STEAM+ project, we were introduced to Fabienne Beernaert, from the LUCA School of Arts in Belgium. She was unable to attend the Jamboree in person that day, but she was able to video call into the conference from her home. Fabienne too has been working on developing an interdisciplinary program of her own called Design for Impact. Design for Impact is a master’s class at the LUCA School of Arts. In this class, students from a variety of academic backgrounds come together to address societal issues by undertaking change making activities. Like with the laboratories of Innovation being utilized by the STEAM+ project, Design for Impact incorporates the perspectives of students from the natural sciences, as well as the humanities and fine arts, so as to provide the group with as full a perspective as possible on solving the problem they are facing.

         The pedagogical theory behind Design for Impact is a complex one, but well worth examining. In practice, it begins with a great deal of reflection. Reflection on one’s self, ones role in the project at hand, and the current needs of the world. Ultimately, Fabienne would like to inspire a new mindset in her students relationship to the world. One in which humanity is not aimed at exploiting it, but rather cooperating with it in a symbiosis, to the benefit of both. She also stated that she would like to teach students in this program how to persuade individuals they encounter in their work who might have a dominating and homocentric mindset to come around to the program’s more enlighten global ideological perspective.

         Fabienne would like to see Design for Impact go from being only a master’s course to being a full on master’s program at LUCA School of Arts. Additionally, she mentioned an interest in developing a network of teachers who share certain aspects of Design for Impact’s goals.

        As keynote speaker, Fabienne set the thematic tone excellently for the introduction of the STEAM+ project, by way of her philosophy regarding the synthesis of science and the arts for the betterment of all.

                                                    Quick Chat with Norwegian Honors Students

       What came next was a short coffee break in which I spoke with two students from Oslo University in Norway. These two explained to me that they were a part of an honors program at their university, which attempts to bring students from different academic fields together so as to facilitate interdisciplinary interaction and dialog. One of these students was majoring in philosophy, and the other in math. Despite being from two separate academic disciplines, they said that this honors program gave them opportunities to not only cooperate formally, but also to discuss and ponder the material from their classes in a more casual setting. They both felt like the program they were participating in was achieving its goal of facilitating transdisciplinary interconnection, and recommended it highly.

                                                                         Trail Digital Map

         After a half hour break in which we all enjoyed coffee, tea, and cookies, it was time for another presentation. The next speaker, Anne-Mieke Vandamme, also could not attend in person that day, due to a cold. Fortunately, though, she was able to present via video call, despite her sickness. She presented “Trail”, to us. A program which can essentially be thought of as a roadmap to achieving the STEAM+ Innovation Labs, mentioned earlier. Trail is being built in a digital format, allowing it to give in-depth and comprehensive directions as to how the various actors involved in an innovation lab should approach their roles. Anne-Mieke gave us a quick demonstration of how this works on the Trail online program. She showed us how a policy maker could follow their designated line on the digital map to find out how they should proceed, so as to facilitate an Innovation lab. As she sequentially selected the steps intended for policy makers, lists of instructions and videos appeared, to illustrate the directions. She also showed us how someone else from a different professional background could easily do the same thing by choosing to follow the line intended for their group.

         Normally, I would include a link to the website in this article. However, the website has not been launched yet. Once it is, though, I would recommend that potential stakeholders to an Innovation Lab project explore Trail. The map is clear, detailed, and user friendly. The steps it provides are suggested to be optimal by a great deal of research, as well as expert consideration. It seemed like an excellent way to efficiently direct interested users in what needs to be done to achieve their objectives.

                                                                           Innovation Labs 

       The next segment was about the Innovation Labs themselves. This segment was presented by two professors who had partaken in the labs. One was from Klaipeda University in Lithuania, name James Mc Geever. The other was from Ca’Foscari University of Venice, named Luca Corazzini.

       They spoke to us about what it was actually like to undertake an Innovation Lab on a practical level. They said that they found the none-hierarchical structure of the lab very effective, and to the benefit of the whole process. Normally, they explained, students and professors are not able to work together as equals. They see each other as being too “other” to communicate with freely. This is very unfortunate, because both parties have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. In the Innovation Lab, though, all members involved were free to put their best skills, knowledge, and opinions forward. This led to the development of a highly productive environment in which a wide range of potential issues could be recognized and dealt with.

        For these first Innovation Labs, there was a contest held to find which was the most successful. The plans of the groups involved were graded on qualities such as how contextually transferable they were, how creative were the solutions to the problems they identified, and, of course, how impactful the plans themselves would be.

       The winner of the contest was a Norwegian lab which invented a method to reduce the use of plastic bags in grocery stores. The approach they decided to take was putting dramatic images of environmental pollution on the bags, to remind people of the consequences of their choices. This strategy was inspired by the addition of pictures on cigarette packets of cancer and death, also intended to dissuade people from purchasing them.

        People were polled on how likely they would be to not use a plastic bag after seeing the images selected by the lab members. The results of the poll were very promising, indicating that the plan could indeed be impactful.

        This project was an excellent example of the STEAM+ theory, in that people with backgrounds in multiple academic disciplines came together to address a public problem which required a STEM solution. The issue of pollution was identified and understood using environmental science. The pictures on the bags were produced using fine art. And the production of the design for the bags, as well as a video made to advertise them, was done using digital technology. People with all of these academic backgrounds came together to develop a great result. It remains to be seen if this plan will be implemented, however the presenters said that several environmental groups were interested in making it happen. With this being so, perhaps we will begin to see plastic bags with dissuasive images on them in the future. Then, ideally, fewer plastic bags in general, thanks to STEAM+.

                                                                       A Fish Bowl Exercise

          The final event of the day was conducted by a number of university students who were involved in STEAM+ innovation labs. These students held a so called “fish bowl exercise” for their segment of the jamboree. This entailed everyone in attendance first splitting up into two groups. Then, each of these groups formed circles around a set of five chairs, which were facing each other. The leaders of the exercise explained to us that the inner circle of chairs was meant to have a conversation, while the outer circle observed. If people in the outer circle felt like they had something to contribute to the conversation happening in the inner circle, they could join by either replacing someone in the inner circle, or taking a free seat, if one was available. Conversely, if someone in the inner circle felt like they no longer had something to say, they could leave to the outer circle.

           The moderators of the fish bowl exercise arranged it so that there would be three students in the inner circle at all times, and at least one person who was not a student in there with them. They nominated me to be the first of the nonstudents in the inner circle. We were given questions to discuss such as “How do we involve each other in defining/redefining higher education?” and “How long do we give ourselves to reform higher education”. I primarily directed these questions at the students, seeing as they were more involved with higher education than I am, although I also asked follow up questions to their responses, so as to keep the conversation going.

           As this went on, teachers, educational policy makers, and other students came in and out of the inner circle. The discussion was lively, and everyone from our rather large and diverse group who felt like contributing their perspectives had an opportunity to speak. In the end, the students who were leading the event gathered the answers to the discussion points generated in each group, and compared them to one another. Once this was finished, the host of the jamboree brought out food, and gave everyone time to discuss the ideas and happenings of that day.

                                                                                Final Thoughts

            I am very glad that I was given the chance to attend the STEAM+ Jamboree. The whole event was well structured, and the topics involved were clearly presented. More than that though, I found it fascinating to learn about the innovative ways in which the STEAM+ project has been approaching the topic of STEAM+ as a means of solving societal issues. In my opinion, this project was an ideal manifestation of the STEAM+ concept in action. I found their philosophy on academic diversity compelling, and I am excited to hear about what sorts of solutions their Innovation Labs will come up with in the future.

We say it everywhere: Katapult is on the move. When research figures confirm this, we can't believe our luck. You see, it really is true, the Katapult network works! Partnerships in VET and higher vocational education experiment, develop and grow in abundance. As many as 12,000 companies, 124,000 students and 8,000 teachers are reaping the benefits of public-private cooperation. 

Since 2016, we have been measuring the impact and added value of the activities of the Katapult Network. In 2021 we carried out new measurements and compiled the most important results in a new publication. Impact and added value of cooperation between vocational education and business, 2019 - 2021 provides an overview and summary of the most important points.

12,000 companies, 124,000 students and 8,000 teachers working together

A growing number of companies and schools are finding each other in an intensive co-creation of vocational education and professional practice. And things are also going well outside the national borders. More and more Dutch universities of applied sciences and intermediate vocational education institutions are joining international networks. Finally, we see that ambitions and coalitions are persisting: public-private partnerships are becoming more sustainable and several of them are expanding or have ambitions to do so. The Katapult formula is a success in vocational education and offers more than enough room for growth.

Stronger propositions for SMEs 

A large proportion of the companies participating in a PPP are (small) SMEs. They leave their mark on the further development of the PPP; more offers are now being developed in the field of innovation of professional practice and lifelong development for their employees. Initiatives such as MKB! dee and Digitale Werkplaatsen, for example, focus on the innovative capacity of entrepreneurs and the professionalisation of employees. Many PPPs use these forms of development and training to increase the vitality and resilience of SMEs.

Greater contribution to social challenges 

Previous impact measurements have already shown that PPPs are active in the major social themes, such as transitions in energy and care, digitisation and inclusiveness in the workplace. The impact measurement 2021 also shows that the ICT/digitisation theme is a focal point within the Katapult network and is often combined with other disciplines. The most common application areas are the high-tech sector (Smart Industry), education, care & welfare (Smart Health) and construction (Smart Building). In addition, the prominent role of PPPs for the social challenge 'security' is apparent: many PPPs are working on digital security themes such as 'cyber security'. Finally, the growing focus on care & welfare in secondary vocational education (MBO) and higher vocational education (HBO) and the growing importance of Life Sciences & Health in HBO is striking.

Further development means that more underlying connections are made between disciplines, sectors and educational levels. These connections are desperately needed to find answers and solutions for the social challenges and transitions. Fortunately, more and more PPPs are recognising the importance of these connections. They are expanding their repertoire to work in a more multidisciplinary, multisectoral and multilevel manner at more educational levels in order to achieve results. The steps are being taken, and the potential for further joining forces in the network is great.

Full impact study available via the link above.