About education in arts
Every year, hundreds of students graduate from Dutch higher professional education in art courses. Not all of them will become the new Jean Michel Basquiat, Coco Chanel or Erwin Olaf, but what is certain is that they have all acquired the proper skills to be meaningful to society and have great job opportunities.
In many cases, art school alumni actually become something other than performing artists. What students learn during an art course is to work passionately on something close to their heart. How to think objectively and critically and how to bring about change. How to create something out of nothing. That is why you will find these creative professionals everywhere: in politics, in the media, in the cultural field and in science.
Facts and figures
More than 21,000 students in the Netherlands are enrolled in Dutch higher professional of art education. That is 4% of the of the total number of students in higher professional education. The selection process ensures high quality. Students are highly motivated. This is evidenced by the low dropout rate of students in art education (10%, compared to 11% in higher education as a whole) and the large number of students graduating. 66% of students who started a full-time arts bachelor's degree in 2015 had graduated after 5 years. For higher professional education as a whole, it is 52%. (source: Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, 2021)
Self development and research
Art education focuses heavily on self-development. Creators need it in order for them to be reflective. They need to be able to make mistakes first, and then again. In fact, they should be able to make endless mistakes. Until they know better and better what does work; this is the essence of artistic research. Art education provides the facilities and attention to this end.
The beauty of art education is that you always start with the great unknown. (…) In art education, it's not about the outcomes, it's about the process. How do you learn to explore, how do you learn to break new ground, how do you learn to work together? (…) An inquisitive attitude is the most important thing a person can learn. And exactly that is what art education teaches."
Art education breaks with traditions
To create something out of nothing, you must learn to act with bravado, guts and individuality. Something that is often broken on the very first day of art education is conformity. For many students, a move within art school is a step closer to themselves. The music that students make breaks with traditions, there is dancing with a new necessity, and art and designs are bolder than ever before. Every office with dead plants, grey suits, excel sheets and a suspended ceiling needs someone who dares to break traditions.
Innovative ideas
Art education pays much attention to history, art history and philosophy. As an art school student, you learn to place yourself as a creator in a historical perspective and how you relate to society. This premise is unique to art education. It develops the creator and the human being at different levels, and it gives rise to innovative ideas.
Art education job opportunities
82% of art education graduates have a job within three months; 70% find employment immediately after graduation. 96% of all arts graduates available for employment are gainfully employed approximately one and a half years after leaving the arts course. Their number has been increasing since 2020. 57% found jobs in their own field. (Source: Kunsten-Monitor 2022)