www.euronews.com While youth unemployment rates in Greece and Spain hover around 60 percent, the figure in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands is below ten percent. How do the Dutch combat youth unemployment? How do they get young people into the labour market? Inside the "Innovation Dock" in Rotterdam, 18-year old Gillian is working hard to make sure he gets the skills he needs to find a job in a fast-changing labour market. He spends one week a month at this vocational training college. The rest of the time, he learns on the job as an apprentice in a company. This approach combining training and practical learning forms the basis of education in the Netherlands. "I learn a lot here. I also learn a lot at my workplace. But here, at the vocational training college, on top of what I can learn at work, I acquire very specific skills and a huge variety of up-to-date techniques that you can't pick up in every job. School and work are complementary," says Gillian. "Innovation is very important for us as an educational institute," says Gillian's supervisor at Albeda College, André de Knegt. "We also try to meet the demands of companies: we go to trade fairs where we buy tools or try to update our teaching skills and techniques. We have all kinds of innovative machines and know-how, which are available to students and apprentices." The 22 million euros needed to transform the submarine shipyard into a vocational training center were co-funded by the European Union and the city ...

• published: 25 Jan 2013
• views: 539
• author: Euronews