Programme for Vocational Education

Awareness of King of the Meadows has spread considerably since the involvement of the Van Hall Institute and Nordwin College (both schools for higher vocational education). Each offers an educational programme that highlights the importance of biodiversity.

Van Hall Larenstein (higher education)

Several professors of applied sciences cover themes related to meadow birds, such as sustainable dairy production and health of bees.Van Hall has organized a series of interactive meetings with students and enterpreneurs, and assisted in developing the ‘serious game’ Farm of the Future.
Van Hall wants to do more. In cooperation with Theunis Piersma (University of Groningen), Van Hall hopes to share knowledge by:

• Making current knowledge available for educational purposes
• Proviging access to data and knowledge via a digital library
• Organizing symposia and excursions with scientists and people with field experience
• Promoting involvement with Theunis Piersma’s research programme, both within Van Hall and for students and scientists from other institutions of higher education
• Educating people who will go on to work as farmers or in meadow-bird management, as well as professionals already working in such fields.

Van Hall will appoint a professor of applied sciences to focus on the field of meadow birds. This professor will initiate projects, in cooperation with farmers and nature managers, to contribute to sustainable farming.

Nordwin College

Nature-inclusive farming will be addressed in the Dairy program curriculum at Nordwin College. In addition new minors will be available at several schools, starting in August 2016: “Meadow Birds” at Nordwin, “Water” at AOC Groene Welle (Hardenberg, Zwolle) and “Elements of the Landscape” at Citaverda College (Roermond, Heerlen). These minors will require at least 240 hours of coursework.

Cooperation

Groningen University, Van Hall and Nordwin College all cooperate to make knowledge available at different levels of education and for a variety of target groups. Nordwin began developing an e-module at the end of 2015, making use of data and tools like “Farm of the Future.” Van Hall Larenstein works on a digital platform informing junior farmers.