Keuzegids 2020: EUR has best History programme in the country; Law still underperforming

EUR’s Law programme has achieved the lowest rating of all study programmes in the Netherlands. This is one of the findings in Keuzegids 2020 (‘Choice Guide 2020’), which was published last Wednesday. Law was awarded 22 out of 100 points. The guide has named Rotterdam’s History programme best in class nation-wide.

Generally speaking, the quality of the Netherlands’ Law programmes is lower than other academic degree programmes, according to the guide. None of the programmes was awarded a pass mark for ‘academic development’, but “the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Erasmus University in particular score well below the average in this respect”. UvA’s Law programme was given 38 out of 100 points. Neither of the two programmes achieved a ‘good’ score on any of the criteria. In the overall evaluation of all research universities, EUR stands on one of the lowest rungs at 55 points – with only UvA earning an even lower rating.

History study programmes can count on an average or slightly above-average score. “For History, the best place to be is either VU or Erasmus,” according to the Keuzegids. This year, VU’s programme was awarded 68 points – two fewer than its counterpart in Rotterdam. Incidentally, EUR’s highest-scoring programme in terms of point total isn’t History. Communication (with 72 points a ‘fine alternative to the top-scoring programmes in Enschede and Wageningen’), Philosophy of a specific field (78 points) and Erasmus University College’s Liberal Arts and Sciences programme (82 points) all have a higher tally.

Growing pains

In last year’s guide, EUR Law didn’t perform too solidly either. At the time, the authors offered a possible explanation: a significant increase in the programme’s student intake. A total of 990 students started reading Law at EUR in the 2019-2020 academic year, compared to 730 freshmen the year before.

The Law faculty can’t offer an explanation for this year’s poor rating just yet. Students are invited to appraise their respective degree programmes, and the Keuzegids uses this input to compile scores. Erasmus School of Law was allowed to review the respondents’ assessments per question and didn’t observe any major deviations from last year’s results, according to an ESL spokesperson. Nevertheless, last year’s edition awarded the Law programme 36 points – 12 more than this year. Interim education policy director Piet Scheele will be meeting with the survey team at Nationale Studenten Enquête to determine which points stood out in the programme’s appraisal.

 The scores published in the Keuzegids are based on the results of the Nationale Studenten Enquête (‘National Student Poll’) and on indicators supplied by the universities themselves. The authors also take expert opinions on board in their calculation of the overall scores. The guide is offered to secondary school pupils to help them choose the right study programme.