Amsterdam votes | Sibren van Hoeven (PvdA): “The UvA must not become a diploma factory”
The municipal elections are just around the corner. For this series, Folia is speaking with various UvA students who are standing for election in Amsterdam on 18 March. Today: Sibren van Hoeven (22) of the PvdA. “We must ensure that it becomes easier to find a job.”
Why should Amsterdam UvA students vote for you?
“Amsterdam is a great city where lots of exciting things are happening. Many students want to come here and would also like to stay, but that is becoming unaffordable. If I am elected to the city council, I will therefore primarily commit myself to ensuring that young people can afford to continue living in Amsterdam. I want them not to have to fear that, after their studies, they will be left at the mercy of an extremely expensive housing market.”
The PvdA’s manifesto states that you want to ensure a better alignment between students and the Amsterdam labour market. What is currently going wrong?
“Many students in Amsterdam struggle to find a job once they have graduated. International students in particular often encounter this problem. For them, it can be a reason to leave the Netherlands, which means they are unable to contribute to our economy and welfare state. It would be a shame to let those people go, so we must ensure that it becomes easier to find a job. That can be done by engaging with employers and looking at how we can help people who are unsure how to navigate certain vacancies find their way.”
“As far as the university itself is concerned, I am opposed to excessive government interference. What academia does is for academia to decide. Nationwide, you can see that the government increasingly wants to control education and exert influence over its content. That is a worrying development. The UvA must not become a diploma factory; university is about debate, scholarship, personal development and intellectual depth. However, when people are looking for a job after graduating, it is important that this is indeed possible. Everyone has the right to decent work.”
Sibren van Hoeven (22) is a Master’s student in Political Science at the UvA. He grew up in Breda and has been living in Amsterdam Noord for the past year. In the municipal elections, he is placed 22nd on the candidate list of the PvdA. He has also been active for several years in the party’s youth wing, the Jonge Socialisten (Young Socialists), and contributed to writing the election programme.
The PvdA also argues that public space should not be designed solely from a male perspective. What exactly does that mean?
“One example that immediately comes to mind is the plaskrul (pee curl), which we all know in Amsterdam. It’s convenient that they exist for men, but it’s strange that on King’s Day women have to queue for hours to use the toilet. You can see that, in such respects, public space has primarily been designed with men in mind.”
“The same applies to dark cycle tunnels. Men may cycle through them more easily without feeling unsafe, but women do not always feel safe in public spaces. It is therefore only right that they speak out about this more, and, above all, that they are listened to more. Lighting alone may not solve the problems, but a sense of safety is important too.”
