Regional Deal leads to valuable tools for attracting and retaining international students for the Brainport region
Online recruitment of international students, an interactive game that introduces foreign students to the Dutch language, (working) culture and social norms, and mentors who guide them in the transition from study to work. With the “Brabant International Students” project, regional educational institutions, companies and partners have been pulling out all the stops in recent years to attract international students and, above all, to retain them in the region. This has yielded excellent results, which is much needed in view of the thousands of current and expected tech and IT vacancies in the region. Regio Deal Brainport Eindhoven helped make this possible.
Thousands of additional jobs are expected to be created in the Brainport region over the next ten years. These will mainly be for technicians and IT professionals. The region is doing everything it can to meet the demand for this talent. This includes training more people for shortage occupations, automating work processes and attracting talent from outside the region, but also taking measures to ensure that international talent and students stay in the region for as long as possible.
Attracting international students and retaining them for longer
In the Brabant International Students Regional Deal project, Eindhoven University of Technology, Tilburg University, Fontys and Avans University of Applied Sciences, regional companies, Holland Expat Centre South and Brainport Development worked closely together. In addition to gaining experience with (online) recruitment activities, which quickly led to the intended goal of attracting 750 tech and IT students (the total number was over 1,564), the collaborating parties gained experience in increasing the so-called stay rate of students. This means increasing the number of years that students continue to work in the region after graduation.
Mentor programme to increase international retention rate
To ensure that international students continue to work in the region after their studies, two pilots were conducted during the project with the student mentor programme “Hello Mentor”. This programme aims to provide international students with more information about the Dutch labour market. During the programme, international students were paired with mentors from the business community. They shared experiences for four months. This gave the students the information and guidance they needed to make the transition to the labour market.
Read more about Hello Mentor:
- Hello Mentor helps international students find their way in the labour market in Brainport
- First Hello Mentor programme completed
Interactive game to increase labour market opportunities for international students
An interactive online game was also developed to encourage international students in the region to take language and work culture courses while still studying. This increases their chances on the labour market, encouraging them to stay longer. The game, called “Get Set”, was played a total of 763 times.
Read more about “Get Set”:
-Get to know the Brainport region with the online game “Get Set”
Valuable tools and experiences through the Regio Deal project
Leane van Veghel, project leader for Internationalisation of Education at Brainport Development, was involved in the Brabant International Students project. Looking back on the project, Leane concludes that the investments from the Regio Deal have yielded significant benefits for the educational institutions, companies and partners involved, as well as for the region. "The various pilots have led to valuable insights, experiences and tools when it comes to recruiting, but above all retaining, international students. The mentoring programme, interactive game and experiences will also have a lasting impact because the individual educational institutions will continue to use them. In addition, work is continuing on a regional vision for International Talent, with the educational institutions involved continuing to discuss their experiences in the field of recruiting and retaining international students."