Sept-Oct: Studium Generale activities
September 8, 2008 Leave a Comment
SG Studium Generale: Inspiration through exploration Lectures, debates, Comedy, Poetry, Music, talk shows, Movies Studium Generale offers a program with academic and cultural activities for students and members of university staff. The program consists of lectures, debates, concerts and theatrical performances. Although the majority of the scheduled events are Dutch-spoken, we include a number of [...]
Some 25% of teachers are unqualified
September 8, 2008 Leave a Comment
A quarter of all secondary school teachers are giving lessons without having the proper qualifications, the Nederlands Dagblad reports on Friday. In total, some 25,000 teachers don’t have a teaching certificate, the paper says, quoting education ministry figures. The number of vacancies in primary and secondary education has gone up 30% this year, says researcher [...]
Cabinet wants taller buildings, big parks in cities
September 8, 2008 Leave a Comment
The cabinet wants the major Dutch cities to look a bit more like New York. Buildings should become higher and there should be big city parks. The cabinet reached agreement Friday on Future Vision 2040. This sketches ambitions for Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, the four cities that together form the Randstad western urban [...]
7 Sept: Flikkendag Maastricht
September 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
Flikken Maastricht is a Dutch television series about the police and filmed in Maastricht. The start of the second television season will be celebrated with demonstrations and other activities by the local Maastricht police, fire brigade, ambulance service and the Royal Marechaussee. Also some of the cast members of the Flikken television series will be [...]
7 sept: Nostalgia Day at the South Limburg Steam Train Company
September 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
Every first Sunday from April till October 2008, Simpelveld railway station is transformed into the way it once was and functioned. Take a great railway journey down memory lane on the “Miljoenenlijn”, a heritage railway. Sitting in the plush interior of the 1st class carriages you can watch the beautiful countryside go by. More information: [...]
Netherlands has most members of social websites
September 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands has the most members of social network websites relative to its size. Nowhere in the world is a greater proportion of the population affiliated to such sites. In the Netherlands, 49 percent are members of social network sites. Next come the United Arab Emirates at 46 percent, Canada at 44 percent and the [...]
Anti-Islam cartoons on show in Eindhoven
September 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
Controversial international newspaper cartoons are to be exhibited from 16 September in Eindhoven. The works on display include anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and anti-Islamic cartoons from both Western and Arabic cartoonists. Among them are the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the Dutchman Gregorius Nekschot, who was recently arrested by the Dutch authorities. COS Brabant, an oganisation for [...]
Dykes will cost the Dutch billions
September 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
Low-lying Holland must spend billions of euros on dyke upgrades and coastal expansion to avoid the ravages of rising sea levels due to global warming, experts have warned. The country must spend billions a year over the next century on additional safety measures, says a report compiled by the government-appointed Delta commission. “The security challenge [...]
Ground in South Limburg rising faster than expected
September 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
The ground in the Dutch province of South Limburg is not as stable as had been thought. Satellite observations have shown greater localised rises than expected. This is one of the findings announced by Prof. Ramon Hanssen in his inaugural address at TU Delft in the Netherlands on Wednesday 3 September. Newly-developed technology has also [...]
Welcome to the reading table
September 3, 2008 3 Comments
From the moment Janet Lindgren first noticed the large communal “leestafels”, or reading tables, in Dutch cafés, bars and restaurants, she intuitively sensed that they were a part of the way life is lived in the Netherlands. She would sit down at the tables and feel as if she belonged. Her interest for them eventually brought her to Maastricht, where she discovered “the diva of all reading tables”.
‘Expats stay in Holland longer’
September 3, 2008 Leave a Comment
Although the exact reason remains a mystery, a survey by the British HSBC Bank has concluded that the Netherlands scores the highest when it comes to how long expats want to stay in a particular country, reports the Volkskrant on Tuesday. Of those interviewed for the survey, 82% said they had already been in Holland [...]
Dutch website compares health providers
September 3, 2008 Leave a Comment
Dutch consumers will from now on be able to compare the performance of nursing homes, hospitals and home care providers. Deputy Health Minister Jet Bussemaker announced that relevant data are being disclosed on the kiesbeter.nl healthcare website. The information is based on the experiences of patients and figures provided by the institutions themselves. The site [...]
Asylum applications increase in Netherlands
September 2, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Christian Democrats and the conservative VVD are alarmed by the increase in the number of applications for asylum in the Netherlands in the first six months of this year. The number of requests in the first half of this year is just as high as for the whole of 2007. The VVD thinks there [...]
Iranian students to sue Dutch government
September 2, 2008 Leave a Comment
A group of students of Iranian origin studying in the Netherlands is going to bring legal action against the Dutch government for barring Iranian students from certain studies. The government measure aims to prevent Iranian students from obtaining secret information relating to nuclear weapons. The Iranian activists say the move breaches the Dutch constitution and [...]
Nedcar rehires 1,000 to make SUVs
September 1, 2008 Leave a Comment
Dutch car manufacturer Nedcar has asked 1,000 technicians it dismissed two years ago to return, writes today’s Volkskrant. The Mitsubishi Outlander, a compact sports utility vehicle which is much more fuel efficient than most other SUVS, is so popular that the company’s Japanese plant cannot cope with demand. Mitsubishi has invested tens of millions of [...]
Demonstration against Sinterklaas tradition cancelled
September 1, 2008 Leave a Comment
A demonstration by two far-left artists and activists against the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas has been cancelled at the last minute. The organisers have been inundated with furious reactions over the past few days. The protest march was to be held in the Eindhoven city centre on Saturday. However, the extreme leftwing organisation Doorbraak, one [...]
