Nominal is Normal

Student organisations welcome the plans of Minister Van Engelshoven for a less stringent study advice in the first year, but educational institutions feel hijacked.

Students recently initiated proceedings aimed at getting rid of Nominal=Normal – to no avail. They now hope to get some political clout on their side.

Taking N=N to court: are you allowed to send down students who don’t earn all their credits on time? Yes, according to the education judge.

An Erasmus School of Law student, is seeking to force the court to issue a guideline statement on the N=N standard. But where was the student when the judge heard the case?

Is the university’s policy of sending away students who fail to earn all their credits in the first year unjustified? Experts are divided on the issue.

The Landelijk Studenten Rechtsbureau (LSR, a national organisation that helps students with legal problems) has launched legal proceedings against Erasmus University. According to the LSR, Nominal is Normal (N=N), the requirement that students obtain all sixty credits in their first year, is against the law.

Previous proceedings

It is not the first time students go to court because Nominal is Normal. In 2015, the Higher Education Appeals Board questioned the lawfulness of N = N in a preliminary injunction. The university escaped a final decision by settlement.

The university wasn’t concerned about the judge’s remarks: “Because N=N is about much more than a binding study advice (BSA). It’s a combination of activating education, fewer resits, compensation as well as BSA. It was introduced to help students progress in their studies. Research has shown that the group which passed the BSA (of 40 credits) now passes the first year in one go.”

The education judge has questioned the legality of ‘nominal is normal’. According to the judge, a ‘binding study advice’ is intended to assess whether a student is suitable for his/her study programme, while Erasmus University uses the system to increase the study tempo.

More about N=N