Illustration Valerie Geelen WUR’s Executive Board (WB) aims to reduce the number of resits per course from two to one per year. Thus was announced at the start op September. The intended decision was to be put to the vote in the Student Staff Council in October, but the council has now requested a postponement.
Michel Riksen (chair of the central works council) and Sanne Vermeij (chair of the student council) represent WUR staff and students, respectively, report they have requested a postponement. Vermeij explains that the onboarding of the new council is in full swing. ‘This is a major issue, so a large base of support among students and staff is essential. That is why we requested more time so that we can discuss the issue with our constituents.’ The vote has been pushed back to November.
In the EB’s proposal, the number of resit opportunities will be increased from two to three: in January for period 1, in May for periods 2, 3 and 4, and in July for periods 5 and 6. ‘The advantage of this proposal is that teaching staff is only required to make one resit exam per year,’ says Riksen, ‘reducing the teachers’ work pressure.’ Moreover, the resit takes place relatively soon after the period in which the course was offered. ‘When the course material is still reasonably fresh’, he continues. ‘Hopefully, this will stimulate students to pass the exam as soon as possible.’
Lenient
WUR currently has the most lenient resit policy in the Netherlands. Students are permitted limitless opportunities to resit (albeit no more than twice a year). They are frequently permitted to start the follow-up course even if the preparatory course has not been completed. Moreover, the achieved grade has no bearing on the right to resit an exam (in Utrecht, a minimum grade of 40% is required for a resit, if the grade is lower, the entire course must be repeated). Students are happy with the lenient policy, but the staff is less enthusiastic: making and grading new exams contributes considerably to the already high work pressure.
Riksen and Vermeij stress that there are still things that are unclear in the new proposal that must be clarified. Riksen: ‘If a course is offered multiple times per year, must you wait until the official resit period in July, or can you resit in the other periods in which the course is offered? And what about exceptional cases, such as a student who has one resit remaining before graduating and fails the exam in July: must they wait en full year? This could lead to high expenses, particularly for international students who are often required to be enrolled in order to be permitted to remain in the country. These questions must be answered.’ They both hope that discussions with staff and students will reveal possible other imperfections in the proposal.
Discuss
The student council organises panel discussions on the resit policy this Friday, Vermeij states. More information is available here. Riksen: ‘We are currently exploring a similar initiative for teachers, or whether a survey would be a better option.’
