Friesland College is a Regional Training Centre (ROC) for secondary vocational education (VET) and adult education. Every year about 10,000 students follow a course: 8,000 follow a VET course which lasts three to four years, and 2,000 follow short-term courses which can last from a few days to six months, to one year. Staff: approximately 1000 people.

Friesland College is an open educational institution with respect for all religions and cultures in society. It is involved with and listens to its students; has a passion for teaching and is innovative. Students can choose from a wide variety of courses, job opportunities, facilities and activities at Friesland College. These are provided throughout the province of Friesland by a teaching and support staff of 1000 persons. They are active in several locations, the largest two being located in Leeuwarden and Heerenveen which are in Friesland, the north of The Netherlands.

Friesland College also has a large division of Adult Education, which is specially involved in training young migrants in order to get them ready for an education in VET or to prepare them for a tailormade job.

At Friesland College, education begins in a practice-based learning environment. That’s the premise of learning at Friesland College, where they try to provide more exciting, contemporary and challenging education; education that invites students’ initiative, curiosity, reflection and practical application of knowledge. Friesland College wants to promote new professionalism in education and training by using a student-center approach, coaching students to realize their career ambitions. The College aims to offer students practical learning experience in real life settings (practical pathway) , and opportunities to develop professional skills and reflective powers, thus encouraging them to take the initiative and become effective learners. All students are stimulated to have an experience abroad, in Europe but also in the developing countries, where young people are trained in their profession and are taught about entrepreneurship so that they can start their own business.

Entrepreneurial mindset is of high priority for Friesland College. The development of entrepreneurial skills and behavior is imbedded in the educational curricula.

Friesland College is a VET school in which many disciplines of the field of work are taught. The main idea behind their educational approach is that we want students to ‘act’ and ‘reflect’ on their activities and experiences. They encourage their students to explore and discover their own way of coming to the solution. This also means allowing room for mistakes and vulnerability to accept these mistakes to ultimately grow and learn from them. Thus, their credo is: “Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow”!

Friesland College is a large conglomerate of vocational educational centers with a high priority attached to cooperation with businesses and service institutes. Knowledge and competences of the students should be relevant and recognizable in the eyes of SMEs, industry and organizations. Another priority is to change the way of teaching by providing a more or less individual approach towards students instead of offering generic educational programs.

In the quality agenda (2018-2022) of the Minister of Education, Friesland College committed itself to four development pillars which were agreed in cooperation with companies, institutions and local authorities. They work together with them in in the following fields:

• Shaping education for the labor market of the future.
• Realizing equal development opportunities for all.
• Stimulating lifelong development.
• Ensure a smooth and successful flow between educational institutions.