New website to improve information for students

Do you know how long your credits are valid for and when you’re entitled to an extra resit? Most students have no idea where to find this kind of information, so a special website will be set up to help them.

A lot of students have never even heard of the Course and Examination Regulations for their programmes. This legal tome contains all the rules and obligations for students and their programmes, such as when they will be given a binding study advice and where to go if they have a complaint.

Better information

According to the Student Participation Council (SOM), universities and universities of applied sciences should provide their students with better information on these regulations. SOM has decided to provide this information itself in the meantime and has launched a new website (www.benjijoerdom.nl) together with other student associations.

“We get a lot of phone calls from students asking questions about their binding study advice,” says committee member Gijsbert Brinkman. “Or about doing a minor in a different programme, in which case they’re confronted with two sets of regulations. And a lot of students find it difficult to decipher the information because these documents are usually full of legalese.”

Easier to find, easier to read

These Course and Examination Regulations are often very hard to find on the programme websites, and the documents are all different as well. The new website lists five points that a good set of regulations should comply with. For instance, they should give a clear table of contents and the language should be kept as simple as possible. Mr Brinkman is hoping that participation councils will include these tips next time they have to approve the Course and Examination Regulations – and that the regulations will be easier to find and read as a result.

But these regulations are by no means perfect anyway. Apparently a lot of educational institutions gave a binding study advice last spring that didn’t comply with the law. The court ticked them off about this and ordered them to make the necessary changes in their Course and Examination Regulations.