Dutch HE penalty impacts study choice
Student magazines of 10 Dutch universities and 4 universities ofapplied sciences (UAS) surveyed 5200 students on their workload,anxieties and the impact of the upcoming langstudeerboete. Thelatter is a substantial financial penalty for students that exceedthe regular study time by more than 1 year, e.g. taking longer than4 years for finishing a 3 year Bachelor degree.
Students study too little, yet suffer from stresssymptoms
The results show that university students have an overallheavier workload than UAS students. 40.2% of UAS students study 20hours or less each week compared to 26.5% of university students.Meanwhile, 27.5% of UAS students study 31 hours or more per week,while this holds for 40.1% of university students.
Even though the majority of students study less than what isexpected from a full time education, over 40% of them indicate thatthey feel serious stress on a regular basis, accompanied by anumber of psychological issues. 45% of this group experience testanxiety, 51% insomnia, and 60% worries (‘piekeren’).
Especially, women (45%) and international students (51%) sufferfrom regular stress from a heavy study workload. This is much lessso for students who continue living with their parents (33%). Pastresearch from Germany already
8% decided against additional degree due tolangstudeerboete
The research by the university magazines also had a closer lookat the impact of the financial penalty (langstudeeerboete) on studychoice. 20% of the students surveyed indicated that their studyplans changed because of this new policy. This includes the choiceof doing another Bachelor degree, going abroad or choosing acertain program.
8% of all Bachelor students indicated that they decided againstan additional degree due to the financial penalty. Of the 20% thatchanged their plans, 45% doubt whether they will pursue anotherdegree, 20% already decided against it. Among internationalstudents, knowledge about the langstudeerboete has not yet spread:15% do not know this new regulation as opposed to 2.7% of Dutchstudents.
This research was also published in the
Meest Gelezen
Vrouwen houden universiteit draaiende, maar krijgen daarvoor geen waardering
Hbo-docent wil wel rolmodel zijn, maar niet eigen moreel kompas opdringen
Wederom intimidatie van journalisten door universiteit, nu in Delft
‘Waarom het nu niet lukt om medezeggenschap in hbo te versterken’
‘Sluijsmans et al. slaan de plank volledig mis’