The Dutch Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs and Science has given the green light for the merger between Aeres and Nordwin College. The two organisations will form a single strong education and knowledge organisation for the green sector with a focus on Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Board chairpersons Bastiaan Pellikaan (Aeres) and Ilona Dulfer (Nordwin College) expect the merger to yield many benefits, including increasing the quality of education and strengthening joint development and innovation power.
Bastiaan Pellikaan: 'Both organisations endorse the considerable social importance of the green sector, and this is where our focus lies. We want to offer the very best education, and are now able to do so for a wider range of specialisms.'
Ilona Dulfer: 'The merger gives us a solid foundation for innovation and further strengthening the quality of education. Together, we serve a larger number of pupils and students, while at the same time offering them the safe learning environment they have become accustomed to at small-scale locations.'
Scope and regional distribution
Aeres is a green education and knowledge organisation that offers education at practically all levels in the provinces of Gelderland, Utrecht and Flevoland: practical education, pre-vocational secondary education (VMBO), senior secondary vocational education (MBO) and higher vocational education (HBO). In addition, the organisation offers course training and applied research, and mediates for trained personnel within the green sector.
Nordwin College is an educational organisation that focuses on offering VMBO, MBO and course training for the green sector in Friesland.
The merger of Aeres and Nordwin College has resulted in an education and knowledge organisation with a focus on the green sector, serving approximately 15,000 pupils and students and 17,000 course participants in the Northern and Central Netherlands. Bundling their capacity creates a powerful organisation, focused on Agriculture, Food and Environment. The total organisation employs more than 1,900 people, spread over 20 locations.
Thanks to the distinctive combination of various educational levels and research activities, Aeres continuously gathers up-to-date knowledge that is used in education. Pupils and students benefit from this.
Integrating processes
As a result of the merger, Aeres and Nordwin College now come together under a single Board of Directors and Supervisory Board. Both organisations will now carefully integrate their processes. After that, both organisations will form a single AOC by means of an institutional merger. The aim is for all educational locations to operate under one name: Aeres, as of the 2021/2022 academic year.