Tighter admission requirements will apply to all master programmes of Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) from the 2017-2018 academic year. At present, an RSM bachelor degree is enough for admission. From 2017, however, students seeking admission will be required to have an average of at least 7.
This tightening of requirements has been made possible by a change in the law by virtue of which universities may now set selection criteria with respect to master programmes. These tighter requirements already apply to external master students and will also apply to the university’s ‘own’ bachelor students. Students who had successfully completed their respective bachelor programmes always had automatic access to at least one of the master programmes of the faculty from which they graduated. This will no longer be the case.
Equal treatment
RSM’s purpose in introducing selection criteria is to further improve the quality and raise the level of master programmes for the benefit of students. In addition, following the legislative amendment, all potential master students, whether or not graduates of RSM, must be treated equally, which means that the same selection criteria must be applied. External candidates already had to satisfy the selection criteria.
‘With this decision we promote quality and excellence, which is very much part of RSM’s strategy’
Steef van de Velde, dean of RSM, puts it as follows: “This decision will ensure that truly all students attending a master programme at RSM are talented, motivated and driven. This will then be beneficial to the quality of their education. I have no doubt that selective admission to all our master programmes will enhance the reputation of our faculty and therefore increase the value of the degree that we award our graduates. With this decision we promote quality and excellence, which is very much part of RSM’s strategy.”
RSM is one of the first faculties in the Netherlands to take this step. Two years from now, all bachelor students will have to have a weighted average mark of 7 or higher to be admitted to an RSM master programme. If they do not have this average, they will have to successfully complete an admission test to qualify. Transitional arrangements will apply in 2017-2018 to students who started in the preceding academic year or earlier. Students and staff were informed of the new admission requirements and regulations in June 2015.
