26 humanities studies are insufficient

Bad news for 13 percent of the humanities studies in The Netherlands. The Nederland-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie (NVAO), the accreditation organisation in the Netherlands, has decided that 26 out of 212 bachelor- and master studies have to be evaluated again. In Tilburg, seven studies have been checked. Only Christianity and Society fell short.

The decision came after the NVAO noticed that the end level of a quarter of the master theses was below the expected level. One of the most common problems is that in the theses, scientific methods are used that weren’t taught in the curriculum.  On top of that, the question in a lot of theses wasn’t formulated specifically enough, or it wasn’t elaborated in the rest of the thesis.

Most studies that are reprimanded were at the University of Maastricht (6), Utrecht University (4), University of Amsterdam (4), University of Groningen (4), VU University Amsterdam (3) and the University of Leiden (2). All studies get two years to improve the situation.

Tilburg University didn’t wait until the official press release. All students received an e-mail from the faculty. Herman de Regt, vice-dean Education, writes: “the faculty board wants to prepare you for possible fuss in the media and ask you to be reserved in your communication about this subject. […] A careful and balanced communication contributes to a reduction of possible negative effects.”