Unfortunately, most of the students’ solutions aren’t feasible, according to Adri Meijdam, the director of the RSM bachelor programme. “They proposed going on exchange in the spring of 2021. We really mulled over this, but at the end of the day we wouldn’t be able to follow it through. Another idea was to move the mandatory subjects scheduled in spring six months forward. But I can’t ask my lecturers to revise their programme for September this late in the day. They have a couple of gruelling months behind them as it is. In addition, there’s no guarantee that these exchanges could actually go ahead in the spring.” Another proposal involved getting students to complete their mandatory subjects and bachelor’s thesis from abroad during the exchange, but this would once again put too much pressure on the lecturers, in the director’s view.
Opportunities
Some opportunities still remain, however, according to Meijdam: “The students also proposed going on exchange in the autumn of 2021. In effect, they suggest extending their bachelor programme by another six months. This has all sorts of consequences: they have to pay another year’s tuition fee and they can’t immediately move on to their master’s. The fact that they’re still prepared to take this step is quite special and testifies to strong motivation and drive. Which is why we said: we’d like to reward this dedication.”
Meijdam conferred with the examination board whether rescheduling the exchange was an option, and for the moment it’s a tentative yes. “We needed to tweak the system so students aren’t automatically awarded their degree after their final subject, because you’re not allowed to continue in your programme after that. In addition, we needed to prevent these students from getting transferred from the old bachelor programme to the new format, which comes into effect in 2021. And we needed to have enough room at our partner universities, because there’s another batch of students coming up who also want to go on exchange. And there are a few details we still need to work out: who will have priority in this case, the old or the new students? And students will once again be taking their chances: the fact that you were originally selected to go to Singapore doesn’t mean you’re once again assured of a spot this time round.”
Meijdam couldn’t say how many students are prepared to fall behind in their studies to go abroad after all. RSM sent a reply to the students’ letter this week. In it, the faculty also promised that students who missed out on their exchange will be given priority if they yet decide to go on an exchange during the RSM master programme.
