For many subjects, attendance alone is not enough. SBE expects an active attitude. For some courses, students receive a grade for their participation; it usually counts partially towards the final grade. Sometimes, there is a pass/fail system and students who receive a fail have to do an extra assignment.
So, a good grade for this item is important, the students emphasise. But what you have to do to pass, is unclear, they added. “I received an e-mail from my tutor that as things stand, I won’t pass,” says student council member Ellemijn Egberink. Strange, she feels, because she “says something three times per half hour”. Her tutor advised her to say more, “but that is impossible because the tutorial group meetings for this subject are always short. We go through the questions very quickly, sometimes it doesn’t last longer than half an hour.” Whether the content of the remarks during the meetings plays a role, was not clear.
Even after a talk with her tutor, Egberink doesn’t know how she can boost her grade. Could there not be clear rules for this item, Egberink wanted to know from the faculty board.
Dean Mariëlle Heiltjes is not an advocate of more regulations. “There is a joint responsibility to agree on this at the beginning of the block.” The dean feels that tutors have to explain what they expect and the other way around, students have to ask questions when that explanation is not given.