Student wins court case over admission to ESE

An EUR student has won a court case against Erasmus University. She appealed to the Council of State after her application for admission to the master’s in Economics and Business was rejected.

The Examination Board had turned down her application because her bachelor’s grade point average was 0.04 points below the requirement for the programme at the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE). She then appealed to the university’s Examination Appeals Board (CBE), but without success.

She found this unfair, arguing that the CBE had not taken her functional impairment into account when making its decision. She also claimed that her parents’ divorce had affected her academic performance. This prompted her to take the case to court.

Grade too low

In her plea to the Council of State, she argued that her average (7.46) should be rounded up to 7.5, which would qualify her for direct admission. However, the judge did not agree, pointing out that the university’s teaching and examination regulations are clear on this matter. No matter how small the difference, her average was indeed below the required threshold.

Personal circumstances

Nonetheless, the Council of State ruled that the CBE should have considered her functional impairment and personal circumstances in its judgement. As it should be, said her counsellor, Casper van Vliet. The student has dyslexia. “Studying during the pandemic was particularly challenging for her. She struggled with reading from a screen and quickly formulating answers on a keyboard”, he explained.

New decision

The Council of State upheld the student’s appeal and overturned the decisions of the Examination Board and the CBE. The Examination Board now has a week and a half to make a new decision. “The academic year has already been underway for five weeks, so if she is admitted after all, a tailor-made programme will need to be arranged for her”, Van Vliet said.

Why is the student so keen to study at ESE? Van Vliet: “Because the programme is highly regarded. It’s a very specialised master’s that is also in high demand among employers in the business world.”