The number of teenagers who start pre-college or pre-university education after leaving primary school is increasing, but the percentage passing their final exams is going down, according to new figures from the national statistics office CBS.

In the 2009/10 school year, some 85,000 pupils were in havo (pre-college) or vwo (pre-university) streams, up 10,000 on four years ago.
But only 89% of vwo and 85% of havo school leavers passed their final exams that year, down four percentage points on the 2005/06 academic year.
News agency ANP points out that pass rate is expected to worsen again this year because standards have been tightened up.
University
Meanwhile, junior education minister Halbe Zijlstra said in an interview on Sunday he no longer considers EU targets on higher education to be an aim in themselves.
The EU has agreed to ensure that 40% of youngsters go on to higher education from 2020. ‘But if that means pressure on the quality of higher education, then the percentage will be put to one side,’ Zijlstra said.
It is more important that Dutch college and university education is seen internationally as ‘really being of a high standard’, he said.
Commenting on reports that some institutions are reducing the amount of course work facing students Zijlstra said: ‘It is good to look at what subjects really belong to a specific degree course and to weed out older ones.’