Contents Npuls

The education sector focuses on providing education to all learners. That may be a student who has just completed secondary education, but also a professional who has been working for years and needs training of is opting for a career change. Everyone can follow a high-quality, up-to-date pathway that suits their own needs. For some, this may be a learning pathway aimed at obtaining a diploma or degree, while for others it may be a pathway linked to a specific element of the professional context.

The training options, such as diploma or degree-based pathways, short courses and flexible options, are world-class and constantly evolving. As a result, all education on offer is always up-to-date and diverse, and it is tailored to rapidly changing (digital) developments in society and the labour market.

When choosing and following education, every learner has easy access to the range of education offered by institutions. This includes programmes, parts of programmes, and separate tracks. It is also clear to everyone what their options are for flexible implementation of education. Learners can easily search the range of education on offer and register for educational units. They aren’t restricted to studying one (entire) programme or enrol at only one institution. There are no administrative barriers and institutions use safe and reliable technology facilities.

Lecturers and supervisors have up-to-date expertise on (digital) developments and are –themselves- digitally literate. This enables them to offer education on the functional and critical digital skills learners need in their daily lives and career.

The education sector is a collaborative system of institutions jointly facilitating lifelong development. Everyone has a personal learning record with their learning outcomes that is maintained for life.

The quality of education is in the hands of lecturers (teams). They have substantive and pedagogical-didactical responsibility for developing, renewing, and providing education, and for guiding and coaching learners. They renew education continuously and they do so based on knowledge from research and best practices. As a sector, we continuously exchange knowledge about developments in education, the labour market, and society.

Lecturers are offered support and professionalisation through their own institution’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). This gives them access to the broad knowledge network of vocational and education training schools, universities of Applied sciences and research universities. This knowledge is effective because we develop it in the practice of education, labour market, and society with all public and private parties involved.

Besides lecturers, many other professionals are also part of the education sector, such as those responsible for information management, educational organisation, or library facilities. These colleagues also contribute to collaborations in the sector, laying the foundations for solutions that can be used throughout the sector.

Vocational and education training schools, universities of applied sciences, and research universities are themselves responsible for both teaching and educational organisation and the design of processes of their own institution.

Thanks to the work of the transformation hubs, the institutions have developed strong cooperation. This cooperation is anchored in a sector-wide knowledge and Technology Infrastructure. Every vocational and education training school, university of applied sciences and research university participates in these infrastructures in some way.

Each institution can make use of the knowledge we jointly develop as a sector and each institution ensures that it is well connected within the sector. Thus, processes at an institution are aligned with the sector-wide processes.

All institutions organise their own support and professionalisation of lecturers and staff. In doing so, each institution links up with the sector-wide national knowledge infrastructure that facilitates cooperation and exchange between institutions and keeps developing in that cooperation. Each institution has a Centre for Teaching and Learning that actively contributes to the continuous professionalisation of lecturers.

Such a national infrastructure has also been realised for technology facilities. Each institution has connected its own technology infrastructure to a sector-wide infrastructure, within which national facilities are offered, such as digital identities and safe and secure data exchange. This national infrastructure is a secure and sovereign infrastructure that complies with public values.

By agreeing on sector-wide standards together, we ensure adjustments in the institution’s own processes are easy to realise. Thus, institutions can enter into partnerships more easily. New developments can be quickly integrated and market players can easily join the sector-wide infrastructure. Cooperation and exchange with primary and secondary education is also made easy because the sectors partly use a joint infrastructure. We will also soon be able to cooperate easily at European level. The Netherlands is still fulfilling the guiding role in this area.

Administrators ensure their institution is continuously connected to the entire sector. The sector infrastructures for knowledge and technology are a joint responsibility of all institutions, with SURF taking responsibility for the realisation and management of the technology infrastructure. We have made agreements on how the sectoral knowledge infrastructure will continue to be managed after Npuls ends. The sectoral infrastructures ensure institutions can continue to work on necessary developments, responding to the requirements of the labour market and society, whilst continuing to offer high quality education.