“Studenten hebben al recht op schadevergoeding”

Toen hij nog in de Tweede Kamer zat, diende Halbe Zijlstra samen met collega’s een motie in. Als opleidingen hun afspraken schenden, zouden studenten in aanmerking moeten komen voor een schadevergoeding, vonden VVD, PvdA, CDA, GroenLinks, SGP en ChristenUnie. Daarvoor moest een speciale regeling komen.

Dat was in juli 2009. Intussen denkt Zijlstra er anders over. Er is allang een verhaalsrecht, schrijft hij nu in een brief aan de Tweede Kamer. Als studenten er met hun hogeschool of universiteit niet uitkomen, kunnen ze naar het College van beroep voor het hoger onderwijs stappen. Als de opleiding gerechtvaardigde verwachtingen niet heeft waargemaakt, kan de student de materiële en immateriële schade vergoed krijgen.

Alleen moet dan wel duidelijk zijn wat een student redelijkerwijs mag verwachten. Daar wil Zijlstra wel voor zorgen. Hij constateert dat opleidingen nog niet wettelijk verplicht zijn om in het onderwijs- en examenreglement vast te leggen hoe hun onderwijs eruit ziet. Dus als afspraken over contacturen of onderwijsvoorzieningen niet worden nagekomen, kan de student zich niet altijd op het OER beroepen. Dat moet anders, vindt Zijlstra. Hij gaat opleidingen verplichten hierover duidelijkheid te verschaffen.



 

In the THE ranking of the world’s Top 200 universities, TU Eindhoven is ranked highest among Dutch universities, at 114th. Delft is ranked 151st.
The University of Utrecht and University of Amsterdam are the biggest losers in the new THE ranking: they saw their rankings drop to 143rd and 165th, compared to last year, when they ranked 49th and 70th, respectively.
The Netherland’s highest ranked universities were still not good enough to crack the world’s Top 50. TU Eindhoven climbed up the ranking from 120th to 114th, while the country’s other two universities of technology lagged rather far behind: TU Delft at 151 (compared to 83rd in 2009) and Twente University, ranked 185th. Completely left off of the THE ranking were the universities of Nijmegen, Tilburg and Maastricht. Leiden University (ranked 124th) and VU Amsterdam University (139th) were the second and third highest ranking Dutch universities in the THE ranking.

The Netherlands occupied the fifth position in the country ranking; however, in the previous THE ranking, the Netherlands was ranked third, tied with Canada and Japan. In this year’s list, the top four countries are the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada. The US is home to the world’s top five universities (Harvard, California Institute of Technology, MIT, Stanford and Princeton), with Cambridge and Oxford sharing sixth place on the ranking.
It was expected that something would change in this ranking of the leading British educational magazine. Earlier this year the editorial board announced that the previous ranking, which was compiled together with QS, a research agency, would be totally revaluated and modified. The magazine decided to work with another research agency, expand the data used for compiling the ranking, issue more scientific surveys and seek better balance among all the various criteria. 

The quality of the education now accounts for 30 percent of the final evaluation, the number of publications by scientific staff for 32.5 percent, and the research reputation, capacity and financing of the universities collectively for 40 percent of the final score. A healthy mix of nationalities among staff and students accounts for 5 percent, while income generated from private enterprise accounts for another 2.5 percent.

The biggest difference from the past methodology is the influence of reputation. The image of the university previously accounted for half the score: 40 percent for the academic reputation and 10 percent for the reputation among employers. Now however the weigh of such opinion is reduced to 34.5 percent: 19.5 percent for research reputation and 15 percent for education reputation.

The number of students per member of the teaching staff also now has less influence on the score: 20 percent last year, compared to 4.5 percent this year. This is because this data is easy to manipulate and moreover says little about the quality of the education. Or, as the editor of the THE ranking said: the number of waiters in a restaurant says nothing about the quality of the food. However, unlike modern restaurant guides, the THE ranking does not yet include the opinions of the customers (i.e. students) in its ranking criteria.
Meanwhile, QS, the former partner of THE, has published its own university ranking, in which the University of Maastricht and Radboud University Nijmegen do appear, ranked 111th and 149th, respectively.

www.timeshighereducation.co.uk