Workload concerns due to increase in student numbers at EUR

The annual ‘1 October census’ released Tuesday show there are considerably more Dutch and international students to be found at Erasmus University this year. This has raised questions at the university as to whether there are ‘limits to this growth’ and the impact this growth in student numbers will have on the workload and the quality of education and research.

More about work pressure

• Academic staff: ‘The workload is excessive’
• ‘Sometimes high workload is also synonymous with other problems within an organisation’

There were 28,346 students at Erasmus University on 1 October, almost 5 percent more than last year. The number of international students rose by slightly more than 6 percent, now numbering around 5,800 in total. This increase was less pronounced than in previous years, primarily due to fewer new master’s students.

Duitsers

With the number of international students rising yet again, roughly 20 percent of EUR’s student population comes from abroad. The largest group by far among international students comes from Germany, with Italian and Greek students coming in at a distant second and third.

The number of first-years also increased by almost 200 to 8,600. Women hold a slight majority in Rotterdam: 51.9 percent of EUR’s students are female, compared to 48.1 male.

Workload

The university has raised the question of whether there are ‘limits to this growth’. In a press release the university writes: “The continuing growth in student numbers combined with reductions in financing of education and research leads to a high employee workload, and places a strain on the quality of research and education”.

On 1 October annually each Dutch university makes a tally of the number of students and enrolments. The 1 October census is a snapshot taken at a specific moment: the figures may change slightly, because the registration of students is an ongoing process where corrections to past figures may still be applied.