Examination marks valid longer

The Dutch House of Representatives thinks that programmes may no longer take credits away from slow students. This should only be possible if it has been proven that their knowledge is out of date.

Programmes are making improper use of the opportunity the law provides to allow examination results to expire, state two political parties, PvdA and SP. They submitted a motion calling for this to be stopped and it gained a clear majority in the Dutch House of Representatives thursday evening.

Law should prohibit taking credits from students

More and more programmes have been allowing the credits of slow students to expire. The Dutch House of Representatives has now demanded that it should be clearly set out by law that this may only be allowed if their knowledge has proven to be out of date.

But even then programmes may no longer take away credits just like that. According to the motion, they must take into account the student’s personal circumstances, dealing with it in the same way as a binding study advice.

Earlier discussion

Minister Bussemaker had said earlier that programmes may restrict the validity of credits at their own discretion. The court also stated “that arguments such as marginal study progress and insufficient study prospects are acceptable” for the restriction of the validity.

A discussion broke out about this in 2013 when it appeared that the Law Faculty at Leiden University had allowed the credits of fifth-year bachelor’s students to expire and, subsequently, had not offered them the opportunity to acquire them again. This meant that they had actually sent the students away and that was not allowed at all.