Compensation rule for ESHCC

At the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication first years can compensate for a 5 with at least a 7. This rule is meant to improve throughput.

The Faculty Advisory Board accepted the Course and examination regulations containing the rule on the 29th of August. The most important changes:

• Compensating is possible for the entire bachelor, with the exception of the thesis, the thesis class, the research class for history and the internship.

• Only non-passing grades between the range of 5 and 5.49 may be compensated with at least a 7.

• Compensating in the first year of the bachelor is only possible if the student has received the required minimum of 40 points. With this exception the faculty wants to prevent first years from attaining 40 points too easily.

• In all years of the bachelor students are allowed to retake not only a failed course, but also one they passed. In total the student is granted three re-sits in the first year and four in the second and third combined. The highest score achieved counts.

Director of Education Nel van Dijk had preferred that the highest score counts only in case the re-sit was for a failed course and the last attained score for in case the course was initially passed. This measure was meant to prevent students from taking re-sits at random. However the administrative system ‘Osiris’ is not capable of making this distinction automatically.

Extra work for lecturers

The lecturers of the Faculty Advisory Board remain sceptical about the rule that already passed courses may be retaken as well. They are concerned that their workload will increase. Van Dijk expects this to be manageable. ‘Students must consider their re-sits carefully, so they will give thought to the decision which examinations to retake. Moreover, lecturers are required to make a  reexamination anyway.’

Test the system

The faculty is introducing the compensation rule this academic year as a preparation for the delayed study ruling – including the hard cut between bachelor and master – that is in effect as of September 2012. The faculty first wants to test the new system for a year, so that possible mistakes can be corrected for next year. LJ