{"id":118601,"date":"2020-10-15T10:38:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T08:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=118601"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:08","slug":"study-delay-not-as-high-as-expected-during-the-coronavirus-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/10\/15\/study-delay-not-as-high-as-expected-during-the-coronavirus-period\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Study delay not as high as expected during the coronavirus period\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many students feared that they would be delayed during the corona crisis. Initial analyses show that this appears to be better than expected at a number of educational institutions. At Erasmus University it is still unclear how many students are delayed or made use of leniency schemes.<\/p>\n

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University Library (2018)<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Almost everyone expected last academic year that the lockdown and coronavirus would have a tremendous impact on students. Lecturers resolutely put their shoulders to the wheel, and in no time education was available online.<\/p>\n

And according to VU University Amsterdam, this was a success. The university examined how many study credits were obtained by students during the past academic year. The pattern is clear: there is hardly any difference compared with other years.<\/p>\n

All study credits<\/h2>

In the master\u2019s programme, the number of students obtaining the complete 60 study credits is relatively similar to previous years. In the bachelor\u2019s degree, there are even more students achieving all study credits.<\/p>\n

The picture is different in Medicine and Dentistry, though. First and second year bachelor\u2019s students there are behind on average by one course of six study credits. This is two courses on average in the master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

But this doesn\u2019t mean that the situation is ideal. Students value online education less highly than standard education, wrote the VU. They prefer in-person lessons. \u201cResearch among VU students shows that, partly due to a lack of motivation, students spend less time on their study.\u201d\u00a0 The question is also whether education is of the same quality as usual \u2013 however hard the lecturers work.<\/p>\n

Comparable results<\/h2>

The delay does not, therefore, seem to be that high. According to the VU, other general universities are seeing comparable results, and there is a similar pattern in universities of applied sciences. At Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences it appears that a study delay is certainly not inevitable across all study programmes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At technical universities, such as TU Eindhoven, it also appears that there is no substantial study delay. The pass percentages for the courses are almost the same and are even slightly higher than in previous years, a spokesperson reported. The university is still preparing analyses to examine how things are going with internships and graduations.<\/p>\n

Too early to say<\/h2>