In Eindhoven, seven hundred MBO students were given access to the joint introduction for all new students. The Eindhovens Dagblad thinks it's an “empty gesture,” as there are as many as five thousand tickets in total for college and university students. The introduction is still not really “inclusive,” the newspaper believes.

Still, Eindhoven is ahead, compared to other cities. At the Eurekaweek in Rotterdam, MBO students are still not welcome. In Maastricht, MBO students are allowed to participate in the introduction days, but they don't come. Only five MBO students signed up.

More attention

In recent years there has been more attention to the position of mbo graduates. Since 2020, they have been called “students” instead of pupils by law. Since then, they have been fighting for access to student houses and student cafes with greater or lesser success. 

Yet not everyone is used to this new status for vocational education. Leiden talks about the “official introductory week of Leiden University” on its website, while since 2014 college students have also participated. And since last year there is also room for up to a hundred MBO students.

This year, about seventy new mbo students came to Leiden for their introduction day. They explored the city, had lunch in the Hortus Botanicus and were given access to the big freshman festival at the end of the day.