Dutch college wants to increase awareness about safety and security management in St. Maarten
~ Wants to teach students to place security issues in a broad perspective ~
PHILIPSBURG — A delegation of NHL Stenden, a college established in Leeuwarden, was in St. Maarten consisting of Denise Jacobs, Sander Mooibroek and Marije de Bruin. Jacobs is the former head of the National Detectives Agency (Landsrecherche) and of the Detective Department of the St. Maarten police force KPSM. The mission: increasing awareness about security in the broadest sense.
Jacobs teaches Safety and Security Management and Policies at NHL Stenden’s faculty of Safety and Security Science, which is a part of NHL Stenden’s Thorbecke Academy.
NHL Stenden has made it a mission to implement the national policy for internationalizing. “We want to generate more interest in security in the broadest sense in St. Maarten,” Jacobs says. “The objective is also to solidify a partnership with St. Maarten, to create continuity for NHL Stenden’s students and to contribute to safety and security on the island.”
The NHL Stenden-delegation also met with Terrance Rey, who happens to be the deputy secretary of the Progress Committee to hear his views on security.
The delegation first wants to create awareness on the subject and security in government, government-owned companies, corporations and organizations with the objective of placing students for internships and job training. The students will make security assessments and provide recommendations for security strategies and policies.
A selection of companies and organizations NHL Stenden see potential for cooperation with are for instance the airport, the harbor, TelEm, GEBE, banks, insurance companies, and the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF). With GEBE the focus can be, for instance, on conducting a cyber-security assessment and creating a policy plan.
“Are you interested in societal developments and do you want to contribute to a safe society?” That is the teaser NHL Stenden has posted on its website to attract students for its Integral Safety Science program. The program covers topics like youth criminality, cyber crime and terrorism-threats. Students can opt to specialize as a cyber safety expert, or in the fields of company and security, human factors, law, management and safety. They also become a part of NHL Stenden’s expansive network and they get the opportunity to execute real-life assignments.
“Security is a very topical issue,” the school writes on its website. “It is high on the agenda of politics and the private sector.”
It furthermore states that security is important in several environments, like chemical companies, events, crisis management, social security, livability and cyber safety.
Students get more than training in the field of security. They also study administrative law, research, psychology, policy, organization and management.
For more information, feel free to contact University of Applied Sciences (NHL Stenden Hogeschool) via its website at www.nhlstenden.com.
