The way internships are organised in the Netherlands needs to be overhauled to ensure students with an ethnic minority background are not discriminated against, according to the government’s new national coordinator against discrimination and racism.

Rabin Baldewsingh says in an interview with website Nu.nl that colleges should organise internships for students directly rather than make them apply for jobs. ‘Students are being left to their lot,’ Baldewsingh told the website. ‘The educational institution should be organising the internships.’

Baldewsingh has also criticsed the government’s own recruitment strategy and is calling for the introduction of anonymous applications and more diverse selection committees.

The coordinator was appointed last year to put together a national programme to combat discrimination and racism, which is due to be published this summer.