{"id":69264,"date":"2017-04-07T09:28:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T07:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/2017\/04\/07\/studentenrechtsbureau-laat-weggestuurde-tweedejaars-meteen-weer-toe\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:41","slug":"studentenrechtsbureau-laat-weggestuurde-tweedejaars-meteen-weer-toe-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/04\/07\/studentenrechtsbureau-laat-weggestuurde-tweedejaars-meteen-weer-toe-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Legal Services Office: \u201cAllow second-year students who were asked to leave to return at once\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShirley de Jong<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It currently takes months before students who were wrongfully told to leave are allowed to resume their degrees. According to the National Student Legal Services Office (LSR), universities and hogescholen<\/em>\u00a0must rectify their mistakes more quickly. \u201cIt is ridiculous,\u201d said\u00a0LSR board member Gabri\u00ebl van Rosmalen.<\/p>\n

Until last year, universities and universities of applied sciences violated the Higher Education Act. Hundreds of second-year students were told through a binding study advice to quit their degrees, even though the Higher Education Court of Appeal (CBHO) found this constituted a violation of the rules.<\/p>\n

Most educational institutions were quick to adjust their policies. However, they do not exactly welcome students who wish to resume their degrees, and the National Student Legal Services Office is not amused.<\/p>\n

Scratching their heads<\/h3>

\u201cWe are talking about thirty to forty students,\u201d says LSR\u2019s Van Rosmalen. When these students try to re-enrol, they are initially turned down. They will then have to appeal the decision, and will be found to be in the right, even before a judge gets to rule on the case. \u201cBut obviously, this will take the students several months.\u201d<\/p>\n

In actual fact, educational institutions should have scratched their heads when they adjusted their policies and asked themselves which students they had wrongfully asked to leave in the last few years. \u201cThose former students should all have received a letter asking if they wanted to resume their degrees,\u201d Van Rosmalen feels.<\/p>\n

Not given a proper look<\/h3>

For instance, Eric Schimmel was allowed to re-enrol in his Japanese Studies programme at Leiden University. He was asked to leave because he had failed to pass one first-year subject, both in his first year and in his second year. \u201cThey saw I had been issued with a negative binding study advice, so they did not give my request a proper look,\u201d he told us. In December he was found to be in the right, and in February he was allowed to resume his degree.<\/p>\n

The university does not wish to discuss individual cases, its spokesperson told us. \u201cBut normally, requests are processed a lot more quickly than this, so clearly, this was a special case.\u201d<\/p>\n

More cases<\/h3>

Van Rosmalen feels the case was not that special. Which is precisely the problem: students are often treated this way, even if the educational institutions are by now aware that their policies were unjust. \u201cIt is ridiculous that you are wrongfully asked to quit your degree and then can\u2019t resume it at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

LSR also promotes the interests of students who were asked to leave and do not wish to resume their degrees. The legal services office may demand that they be paid compensation due to their graduation date having been delayed.<\/p>\n

Read more about binding study advice<\/h2>