On Arrival
Once you are in the Netherlands there are some essential things you must do soon after your arrival. This section describes what needs to be done and how to do it.
Schools and Day-Care in the Eindhoven Region
As already mentioned, International schools offer an immediate advantage to expats compared with Dutch schools: lessons are in English, and in some schools also in Dutch. International education is designed to ease the educational transition of a move abroad. Parents come from all walks of life, though most come from the business community.
If you wish to stay longer in the Netherlands or want your children to go to a school in your neighbourhood, then a regular Dutch school is also a possibility. Whatever your choice the Eindhoven region offers a broad range of possibilities.
Here are the contact details to help you find the right school for you.
International schools
Regional International School
The RIS is a publicly funded international school linked to a Dutch primary school, and gives education in English and Dutch to children from 4 to 11 (international stream) or 12 (Dutch stream). It also has an independent international nursery class. The school operates the IPC curriculum for both language departments. The school has about 450 pupils of 40 different nationalities. http://www.riseindhoven.nl/
International Secondary School Eindhoven
The ISSE is the secondary international school in Eindhoven and part of the Stedelijk (City) College Eindhoven. It operates the Geneva based International Baccalaureate as its seven-year curriculum. The school currently has approximately 260 students aged 11 to 19. http://www.isse-school.nl/
The Eindhoven region has plans to form one international school offering pre-school, primary and secondary education. This will be called the International School Eindhoven (ISE). When this happens both RIS and ISSE will be integrated into the new school. For more information visit http://www.internationalschooleindhoven.nl/.
European School Mol (Belgium)
The European school in Mol (Belgium) offers nursery, primary and secondary education. The curriculum can be followed in four different languages: Dutch, German, French, or Italian. There are also English and Portuguese groups. All pupils prepare for the European Baccalaureate, but fees are considerably higher than the schools in Eindhoven. A bus service operates from Eindhoven. See http://www.esmol.be/.
Dutch schools in the Eindhoven area
For the list of Dutch schools in Eindhoven and other communities in the region, see the Community Guides or websites (Appendix VI) and search for onderwijs (education), basisonderwijs (primary schools), or voortgezet onderwijs (secondary schools).
Day-care
Day-care centres can be found at the Technical University ( http://www.tue.nl/tuimelaar/english.html ), the International nursery class at the RIS ( http://www.riseindhoven.nl/ ), or (starting from Summer 2006) the High Tech Campus ( http://www.hightechcampus.nl/ ).
For other centres please refer to the Community Guides/websites or Yellow Pages (www.goudengids.nl) under "kinderopvang". Or visit http://www.kinderopvang.net/ and search under postcode (in Dutch).
Higher education
The Eindhoven region offers excellent higher education possibilities.
The Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e) is a research-driven, design-oriented university that provides academic education within the engineering, science and technology sectors. TU/e is the 3rd highest rated technical university in Europe, and offers many of its programmes in English. It is a very international institution and many of its current students are non-Dutch.
With its conceptual and project-oriented approach to industrial design education, the Design Academy Eindhoven is amongst the most influential design institutes in the world, and ranks 5th on the ICON list. The Design Academy has close ties with TU/e.
At Fontys University of Applied Sciences (Fontys Hogescholen), it is possible to follow almost all higher professional education programmes at bachelors and masters level. They offer programmes in Healthcare and Social Work, Economics, Business and Communication, Technology, Visual and Performing Arts, Logistics and Transport, and Education.
For more information visit:
http://www.fontys.nl/ (dutch)
http://www.designacademy.nl/intro.htm
http://www.vsnu.nl/ (association of universities in the Netherlands)
http://www.roceindhoven.nl/ (Eindhoven) (dutch)
http://www.roc-teraa.nl/ (Helmond) (dutch)
