In their first year, students in most programmes must earn a certain number of credits; otherwise, they must leave. The threshold is often around 42 credits, but some programmes require 60.
But does the BSA achieve its intended purpose? Does it identify the right (unsuitable) students, and do they indeed pursue a different study direction?
No, writes researcher Melvin Vooren of Vrije Universiteit, together with three colleagues in the economics journal ESB. Most students who are dismissed simply enrol in the same programme at another institution.
Not unsuitable
Moreover, these dismissed students are not necessarily unsuitable. The researchers were able to study this thanks to the coronavirus crisis. During the pandemic, the BSA rules were temporarily suspended, allowing everyone to progress to the second year. Students who would normally have been dismissed ended up obtaining their degrees.
The researchers looked at students from Vrije Universiteit. First-year students who earned at least 30 credits (but less than 42) at the time seem to perform just fine. This is the group that would have been dismissed under normal circumstances. Ultimately, more than 80 per cent of them obtain their bachelor’s degree.
For first-year students with 24 credits or less, around 60 per cent eventually graduate. This is still significant. They take longer to complete their studies, but many of these students do cross the finish line.
The researchers believe that the practice of shuffling students around is inefficient and creates ‘market failure’. Students may have to move, pay additional tuition fees, and overcome the mental setback. These costs ‘seem clearly disproportionate’.
Dropping out voluntarily
The fact that many of the persevering students eventually complete their studies (even if they did not meet the first-year standard) is partly due to others dropping out voluntarily. During the coronavirus crisis, this was the case for over three-quarters of the first-year students with few credits.
The figures from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam are fairly comparable to those from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. There, too, three-quarters of the BSA students voluntarily dropped out during the pandemic. And there, too, students with 30 credits or more still have a good chance of obtaining a degree, the board noted last year.
Politics
The binding study advice has been a topic of debate for years, particularly in light of the pressure to perform and the mental health of students. Opponents of the BSA argue that students should be given more time to adjust to higher education if needed. Universities, in particular, resist any easing of the rules and want to keep the BSA as a tool to ensure first-year students start strong.
The previous Minister of Education, Robbert Dijkgraaf, sought a compromise and proposed a standard of 30 credits in the first year and 30 in the second year. However, the fall of the cabinet prevented him from introducing a bill. The new coalition wants to keep the BSA as it is.
