His Majesty King Willem-Alexander opened the new wing of the Leiden Instrument Makers School

His Majesty King Willem-Alexander (in the middle) opened the new wing of the Leiden Instrument Makers School, in a ceremony attended by students, teachers and guests. Dick Harms (right), director of the LiS and member of the board of DSPE was very honoured to show our king the new modern building.

Leiden Instrument Makers School (LiS) began construction of its extra facilities in 2015, partly in response to an increased demand for graduates of the school. The successful completion of the building was thanks to additional funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the city of Leiden, Leiden University, a grant from the Utopa Foundation, contributions from businesses and LiS’s own private resources. The school has now doubled in size and will thus be able to meet the growing demand from industry for good instrument makers, while with a maximum of 400 students, it will retain the quality inherent in small-scale education.
In addition to its comprehensive training for research instrument makers, the LiS also offers the possibility of specialising in Life Sciences & Health and soon in Instrumentation for Space.

This year LiS celebrates its 115th anniversary, making it one of the oldest secondary vocational education institutes in the Netherlands. The school was founded in 1901 by Leiden professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes out of a need for professionals who could develop and manufacture tools for physics research. This strong bond with Leiden University continues to this day.