On Tuesday 9th of April, Amsterdam's vocational education, the municipality and the (organized) business community including RAI Amsterdam signed the Amsterdam Internship Pact under the watchful eye of Her Majesty the Queen. This makes Amsterdam the first Dutch city with a local Internship Pact. Like the national Internship Pact, the Amsterdam Internship Pact contains agreements on improving internships. The starting point of the pact is that every MBO student in Amsterdam should have access to a suitable internship with good supervision from school.
"We as RAI Amsterdam believe in equal opportunities for everyone. We believe in the power of MBO and the talent that everyone has. For me, it is a natural step to sign this pact and get to work on its implementation. I am extremely proud that we are part of this great initiative for an inclusive internship and labor market in Amsterdam."
Festive afternoon
During the festive afternoon, which was presented by Humberto Tan, Amsterdam alderman for mbo Sofyan Mbarki, several companies and students spoke to share their experiences about internships. Sofyan Mbarki: "If we as a city don't make use of the amazing talent that is walking around in the mbo, we won't get anywhere. It is the combination of working with your hands and your head that makes the MBO so unique. Good internships are essential in this, because they make the step from study to work smaller." Queen Maxima, who has often praised the mbo, is also pleased with the Netherlands' first local Internship Pact: "This is a great opportunity for our future."
The participants in the internship pact will immediately pay internship fees to their mbo trainees equal to those of college and university students, ensure proper supervision of the students, provide sufficient mbo internships and actively combat internship discrimination. Companies sign the pact because there is a high demand for qualified professionals. Signatories besides RAI Amsterdam include Schiphol, Kruidvat, the Johan Cruijff ArenA, Thuisbezorgd.nl and Alliander. The Amsterdam Stagepact MBO is the first regional cooperation to make the four main goals of the national MBO Stagepact concrete.
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