Master studies select well-performing students

More and more master studies select their students. A student who’s average grade is a 6 is no longer welcome at the Rotterdam School of Management. The faculty at the Erasmus University only accepts students that score a 7 out of 10 or higher, writes daily de Volkskrant.A change in the law recently made it possible for study coordinators to set demands for students that want to enroll. This puts an end to the rule that bachelor students automatically had to be granted access to their ‘own’ master studies. Rotterdam is not the first place where education boards have started to select students. Political science and Archaeology in Leiden have done the same. It fits the vision of the Minister of Education, Jet Bussemaker, who wants to ‘get the right student in the right place’.

Logical
Director Anne van de Graaf from the Rotterdam School of Management thinks it is ‘logical’ that her study programs are selecting students. She wants to improve the quality. Now, 65 percent of ‘her’ bachelor graduates are accepted for the master program. Under the new system, students will start ‘running’, she says. That might raise the number of accepted students to 75 or 80 percent. “The rest, a little group, just is not good enough. We will say goodbye to them.” Those students can turn to other faculties or other master programs in the country. The entrance is not completely blocked, students can also take an admission test or file a request at the admissions committee.

“We think that students should choose a master study, and not that the master study should choose the student”

The Association of Universities in The Netherlands (VSNU) thinks the new law is a good development, as long as a student has other options to turn to. The National Student Union (LSVb) is less happy with the selection procedures. The accessibility of the education might be in danger, according to the union. “We think that students should choose a master study, and not that the master study should choose the student.”

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