Brainport Eindhoven prepares children for an international future

Society is becoming more and more international. That is reflected in classrooms in the Brainport Eindhoven region where children from all over the world come together. All of these children deserve to be properly prepared for their futures in an international society. To achieve this, Brainport Eindhoven invests in a program aimed at internationalization of education. By paying attention to different cultures at childcare, primary and secondary schools and schools for secondary vocational education, children can join in and make a difference in the future.

Over the last years the Brainport Eindhoven region has become increasingly international. In addition to knowledge workers, more and more labor migrants and refugees with a residence permit can be found in Southeast Brabant.  It is very likely that children and young people will be in contact with with numerous cultures in their future lives, both in society as in the workplace. To create more awareness and optimally prepare children for an international society, economic development agency of the region Brainport Development has developed the Internationalization Education program.

More than language

Within the program money is made available for teachers. This allows them to get started with the theme of "internationalization". That means more than just promoting language skills. Schools can use the budget to translate the concept of global citizenship into their lessons. Questions such as: ‘how do we understand the different backgrounds of the children?’ and: ‘how do we do justice to the different languages ​​in the classroom?’ play an important role in this. In addition, the program also pays attention to realizing MBO courses that are completely in English. At Summa College you can already subscribe for an international engineering or international business course that are fully taught in English.

Being connected

In addition to knowledge, being connected is of major importance in the program. Brainport Eindhoven, for example, enables collaboration between schools for secondary and secondary vocational education in Brainport Eindhoven and the Spanish Basque Country. Summa College, ROC ter AA, Sint Lucas and the Jan van Brabant College, among others, already participate in this. In mixed groups, students work on sustainability goals (Sustainabe Development Goals, SDGs). In this way, students from Brainport Eindhoven make connections on a national and international level which causes knowledge and awareness to spread like a snowball.

Planting seeds

Budget for increasing the expertise of teachers is available for all schools in the Brainport region. The number of reactions as a result of this arrangement shows that there is a need for this. People involved in the program are already in dialogue with 70% of the schools in Brainport Eindhoven to see if they want to use the budget. This is how seeds are planted for a successful international society.

Want to learn more?

Then visit our website or send us an email.