Noorderpoort and Groningen Airport Eelde celebrate successful ‘landing’ of students from the Air Cabin Crew, Travel and Tourism programme
Last year, Noorderpoort moved into the former Rijksluchtvaartschool building at Groningen Airport Eelde with its first group of students. From this year onwards, all 160-plus students of the Air Cabin Crew, Travel and Tourism programme will be taught at the airport. They are learning their future profession in an excellent practical setting, among passengers and aircraft. And it is proving to be a great success. Last Tuesday, this successful ‘landing’, and with it the full relocation, of the Noorderpoort programme to Groningen Airport Eelde was celebrated.
“Of course, this is the best place in the North for our students to lay the foundation for their future careers,” explains Frits Gosman, team manager of the programme. “Here, our students can truly grow in their profession, right in the middle of day-to-day practice. And we clearly see the added value this has for our students’ learning.”
Together, we create strong and relevant vocational education
“They are visible in the departure hall, where they help passengers with questions and provide information,” say teachers Liane Eijgelshoven-Marin and Jelle Slot about the students’ practical training in Eelde. “At the desks, they also help with passenger check-in. They receive training for this from experienced airport staff. Our students are also increasingly present after the security check, on airside.
Naturally, all of this takes place safely and always under the expert supervision of airport professionals. In this way, together with Groningen Airport Eelde, we are increasingly shaping our education. Together, we are creating strong and relevant vocational education.”
Campus development at Groningen Airport Eelde
“With this, we are connecting education directly with professional practice,” says Jonas van Dorp, Manager Commerce & Business Development at Groningen Airport Eelde. “After years of joint effort, we are very pleased with Noorderpoort’s landing at the airport. There are now almost 300 students from various educational institutions present here every day, and we expect further growth.
This development fits perfectly within our NXT Airport programme and our broader campus development, which we are working on together with Noorderpoort and many other partners. In this way, we are continuing to build an airport that looks beyond flying alone.”
Onboarding successful, landing completed
On Tuesday, it was up to Willemien Meeuwissen, Provincial Executive member for the Province of Drenthe, Regina Bouius, Chair of the Executive Board of Noorderpoort, and Jonas van Dorp of Groningen Airport Eelde to symbolically mark the successful ‘landing’ of the programme at the airport. Or, as Regina Bouius put it: “Today, we can say with confidence that the onboarding has been successful. That the landing has been completed. And therefore, that the relocation of the entire programme has been finalised.
This monumental building, full of history, where the Rijksluchtvaartschool was located for decades, has now been given a wonderful new future. With our students learning their future profession here, right in the middle of practice. That is something we can be proud of, and something we are celebrating together today.