A minimum of 50,000 jobs will be created by 2032 in the Brainport region. This means that the number of international students and knowledge workers in the Eindhoven region will increase considerably in the coming years. Educational institutions in the region, unlike elsewhere in the country, continue to recruit talent from abroad.
Until 2032, the number of jobs in the region is expected to increase to 71,200. Out of which, 18,500 will be created by people retiring. The number of students graduating will almost close this gap, as there would be 17,500 students joining the workforce. According to these projections, there are about 50,000 jobs that need to be filled.
This is evident from the Strategic Agenda Brainport in which Eindhoven recently agreed to cooperate more closely with the province of North Brabant and the national government.
The plans are at odds with what the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) previously called for namely, a pause to the recruitment of international students. TU/e and Fontys responded to that request at the time.
More international students
Nevertheless, Fontys also announced in that period that it wanted to double the number of technical students at the university. TU/e spoke out about the importance of international students for the Brainport region.
That message was also heard in The Hague. At the end of April, Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robert Dijkgraaf announced that programs for the technology and IT sectors are an exception to the rule that the number of international students studying at Dutch educational institutions must be reduced.
More people at work
To fill that number of jobs before 2032, there are five pillars. 8,000 vacancies must be filled by putting more people to work. Early school leavers, status holders and partners of expats must be put to work in the technology or IT sector. In addition, more students need to be trained to work in those sectors. The number of engineering graduates is expected to grow by 12,000 by 2032.
To stay
More talent must also be retained for the region. In the first five years after graduation, 21 percent of tech graduates drop out of the industry and go elsewhere. 15 years after graduation, 34 percent of those graduates have left the sector. Reducing those figures should yield 9,000 employees for the region.
Finally, increasing labour productivity should generate 5,000 workers. In addition, the percentage of international graduates must increase. More than 3,000 international students will graduate from TU/e in 2022, about half of whom will remain in the region. The current percentage of retention (54 percent) must be increased to 65 percent.
For Eindhoven News: Beena Arunraj
Source: Studio040
