A valuable debate

I recently debated the tightening of standards for the binding recommendation on continuation of studies with representatives from our student associations and student members of the University Council and Faculty Councils. The meeting took place at St Olof’s student club for Tilburg students. Around fifty students came along to take part in the discussion and make their opinions heard.

Tilburg puts quality first
In my introduction, I emphasized that Tilburg University is opting for quality across the board. That includes both research and teaching. Our goal is to create motivated, hard-working students who want to achieve their full potential. At the same time, we will provide the best teachers to make sure that students are constantly challenged. Students and teachers need to keep each other on their toes. It is all about combining academic substance with the effective organization and supervision of students. The relatively small scale of our university makes it possible to get to know our students properly.

One element of our quality strategy is that the first year of the degree programme has to incorporate some degree of selection. Research has shown that students need to get off to a flying start in order to succeed later on. Students who lag behind and are constantly trying to catch up will be less likely to engage in other worthwhile activities, such as becoming an active member of a student association, a student representative or a student teaching assistant, and taking part in trips abroad or internships. That is a shame because for me, quality also means that you do more than simply study! A requirement of 36 ECTS in the binding recommendation on continuation of studies (60% of the maximum credits available) does not correspond with our emphasis on quality and selectivity. That is why we have suggested raising the requirement to 48 ECTS – in other words, let’s go for an eight rather than a six.

One against fifty?
Did the arguments of the Rector Magnificus fall entirely on deaf ears? No, luckily not. A large group of the students in attendance expressed their support for the emphasis on quality and stricter selection criteria in the first year.
The boards of the student associations expressed their concern about the possible decrease in the number of (active) members. I challenged them to look together at how we can strike the right balance for students between making rapid progress in their studies and actively participating in student life.

We should be able to manage this, assuming that the average student has sixteen hours a day available (having deducted eight hours for sleeping). However, there is no such thing as an average student of course.