No compulsory lectures at Tilburg University
There will be no compulsory lectures at Tilburg University. Missing a lecture will not mean that you are barred from taking exams. Rector Magnificus Philip Eijlander made this strong pledge to several worried fractions in the University council.
The University is pursuing alternative ways to intensify education. Students will have to write more papers, take tests between exams, give more presentations and the nature of lectures may change.
The University Council’s meeting proceeded with difficulty, the meeting was adjourned several times to allow fractions extra time to discuss.
Now that the BSA-norm has been raised to 42 study points, the Board of Governors has freed up 2, 3 Million Euros for the intensification of education. Most of the funds will go to projects in the Bachelor year. The money will be made available in two parts. The amount of money awarded to a Faculty depends on its size. FEB will receive the greatest part followed by FSW, FRW and FGW.
The plans to intensify education have led to student concerns in the past. For instance, the Board of the Faculty of Law had proposed a plan to test all first-year students after three weeks. Based on the results of this test, students would be divided into two groups. One group of students would enjoy an intense form of education while the other students would follow regular education in larger workgroups. After objections by the University Council and student bodies on the Faculty Board, the plan was abolished. However, a new proposal hasn’t been made to date.
Documents obtained from the Faculty Board show that the FEB Faculty Board believes that students don’t spend enough time studying. 20-25 hours is too little, the emphasis isn’t on studying but more often on other things, such as part-time jobs. “Bachelor students take a long time to complete their studies. 25 to 30 percent of all students with a positive BSA complete their studies within 3 years, about 50 percent within four years and 75 to 80 percent graduate after five years.” In the new set-up, lecturers will explicitly function as a training team and a more hands-on approach to working will be introduced in the tutorials. The University wants to see 70 percent of students with a positive BSA, graduate after four years and 90 percent after five years.
The FEB also had a plan for compulsory lectures. Whoever failed to show up at lectures could be barred from taking exams. “Too much like secondary school, based upon traditional views on education and not on innovating methods of education”, was the University council’s harsh judgement, upon which Eijlander promised that the plan would be dropped.”This University isn’t opting for the compulsory route. I have discussed this with several faculties. Everybody in this institution, from the management team to the Vice-Deans, agree on this. Barring students from exams is a disastrous road to take. But everybody needs to get in gear. There will be different ways of working; students will have to write more papers. It isn’t a game without rules. The standards will be raised. Probably, students will have to attend lectures to make the grade. [MW] Translation: Charles Peter]
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