In recent years, the continuing stream of migrant workers, internationals and status holders who come to live and work in the region has seen strong growth for STE Languages. For the first time in our history, we have enrolled 1,000 students at the beginning of the year most of whom will follow a Dutch language course.

In 2022, STE saw the number of students grow strongly, from an annual throughput of  3,000 students to one of 4,000. These 4,000 students hailed from over 90 different countries. STE Languages is therefore rightly one mini-society of many different nationalities.

One of the reasons for the strong growth in the number of language courses is the internationalization of the region. It is estimated that the region of South East Brabant is home to 25,000 internationals, and that number is steadily growing. Research by the Reading and Writing Foundation shows that in the Netherlands, amongst “new Dutch citizens” there are around 2.5 million people with a low level of literacy in Dutch; that is one in six people. For this group, STE Languages is also committed, directly or through companies, to teaching the Dutch language and therefore the promoting better integration into Dutch society.