{"id":134053,"date":"2021-12-08T16:05:20","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T15:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=134053"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:02","slug":"iba-students-may-miss-christmas-with-families-due-to-offline-examination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/12\/08\/iba-students-may-miss-christmas-with-families-due-to-offline-examination\/","title":{"rendered":"IBA students may miss Christmas with families due to offline examination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost all teaching at Rotterdam School of Management is online or hybrid. And yet international second years from International Business Administration (IBA) won\u2019t be able to spend Christmas with their families because of one examination: their examination for the Research Project course, which will take place on 22 December in Van der Goot.<\/p>\n

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The lack of time between the examination and Christmas makes it impossible for some non-European students to fly back to their parents\u2019 home to celebrate Christmas with their families, they wrote in a three-hundred-strong petition to the faculty.<\/p>\n

Logistical disaster<\/h2>

Around five hundred students have to sit the examination. The students don\u2019t understand the faculty\u2019s decision because previous examinations did take place online. \u201cInternational students actually have two options: they either fly home or they do the examination. There won\u2019t be many flights on 23 December to enable the students to get home in time for Christmas,\u201d one of them wrote.<\/p>\n

But the faculty is holding its ground. Programme Director Adri Meijdam explained why in an extensive e-mail to the students. \u201cThe students in the master programme are also largely international and they also have an examination close to Christmas, so if we do this one online we expect we\u2019ll have to offer the same to them too. We also think that it\u2019s undesirable to treat Bedrijfskunde (the Dutch language bachelor degree, ed.) and IBA differently, so we\u2019d also have to offer them the opportunity to do their examination online.\u201d Meijdam is also concerned that the resits after Christmas will then also have to be taken online to keep the conditions the same. All in all, it would be a logistical disaster for the study programme.<\/p>\n

Infection risk<\/h2>\n\t
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\n\t\t\u2018If they make FFP2 masks mandatory, I\u2019d change my opinion\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

IBA student Liam Vance simply doesn\u2019t understand this. \u201cFirst of all, the number of coronavirus infections is currently really high. Such an offline examination threatens the lives of vulnerable groups. Secondly, all examinations until now have been online and that didn\u2019t result in any logistical problems. And this examination two days before Christmas is the only exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

The student is celebrating Christmas with his family in Germany so travelling home is no problem for him. His main objection against an offline examination is the risk of infection. \u201cStudents have a lot of parties and this means they run a huge risk of being infected. The faculty also states that we can \u2018largely\u2019 sit a metre-and-a-half apart during the examination. That should be an absolute minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance is mainly worried that he will infect his grandparents during Christmas if he catches the coronavirus during the examination. He understands that the study programme won\u2019t reverse its decision about the examination, which is why he\u2019s pleading for mandatory face masks in the examination hall. \u201cIf they make FFP2 masks mandatory, I\u2019d change my opinion.\u201d FFP2 face masks are not mandatory for non-medical staff in the Netherlands, unlike in Germany.<\/p>\n

Survival mode<\/h2>

Meijdam understands the students\u2019 objections. \u201cI really feel for them. But you also need to understand that we are in survival mode at the faculty. If we reverse this, believe me we\u2019ll open a Pandora\u2019s box,\u201d stated Meijdam.<\/p>\n

Face masks won\u2019t be mandatory, explained the programme director, and the study programme also can\u2019t conduct a coronavirus check at the door. \u201cIt was also a tense time for us waiting for the cabinet\u2019s decision, but there is no maximum for the number of students allowed in the examination hall.\u201d According to Meijdam it should be easily possible to achieve the one-and-a-half-metre distance in the hall.<\/p>\n

Meijdam does emphasise that exceptions are possible. If students need to self-isolate or if there are travel restrictions, students can sit the examination online with proctoring. They do need to indicate this in advance though. \u201cGetting home too late for Christmas isn\u2019t a good enough reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Eerder<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t