Minister of Education to start investigating mandatory internship compensation

On Wednesday, the education committee of the Lower House debated unpaid internships; the unequal treatment of students depending on which form of third-level education they get; and the use of interns as cheap labour.

The Parliament is particularly concerned about intermediate vocational education, where only 42 percent of interns receive an internship allowance. For higher professional education interns, this is 75 percent. For those studying at universities of applied sciences and research universities, 65 percent of compulsory internships and 91 percent of voluntary internships are paid.

Legal protection
According to Mikal Tseggai, a member of parliament for the left-wing alliance GroenLinks-PvdA, students currently fall ‘between education legislation and labour legislation’, which results in poor supervision. She wants the cabinet to improve their position as ‘Dutch students will not benefit from mere soothing words.’

The opposition parties would like to see a minimum wage for interns, but the coalition parties PVV and BBB are not in favour of this. They are afraid that smaller companies will stop employing interns altogether. The VVD is more sympathetic to the cause but proposes starting with a single sector to see what will happen.

Internship pact for secondary vocational education
Bruins previously stated to the Lower House that he wanted interns to receive ‘appropriate compensation’ but he did not want to enforce this legally. Instead, he prefers to wait and see if the Internship Pact for secondary vocational education, which runs until 2027, will make it so that more interns receive an allowance. Bruins: ‘I believe that university and college students are also entitled to a proper internship allowance, but this has already become more common, which is why I am prioritising intermediate vocational students.’

However, the minister wants to explore how mandatory allowances could be enshrined in law, just in case the Internship Pact does not yield enough results. He also promises to include university students.

A good step
The student organisation ISO has been advocating a mandatory internship allowance for years. They have recently organised a debate about the topic. Chair Mylou Miché welcomes Bruins' investigation as “a good step”.