Imagine, it’s June, you’ve nearly finished your Bachelor’s in Psychology, but you have to score a four, five or six for just one more subject. Unfortunately, you’ve already failed that exam twice. You can apply for a third chance with the Board of Examiners, but that resit won’t be until October. That’s too late, if you’re hoping to start the Master’s in September. That would mean one subject leading to a year’s delay, as there are very few Psychology Master’s programmes in the Netherlands that allow for a February start.
Room for improvement, thought FPN. In the most recent Faculty Council meeting, the board suggested moving that extra exam to the last two weeks of August instead. That way, a student could neatly graduate in that academic year (which runs until 31 August).
In principle, it’s a good idea, said the board, but would the course coordinator not be overwhelmed with the extra work? They would have to set and mark an extra exam in the summer. “It’s particularly busy at the end of August,” said Alicia Walkowiak, member on behalf of academic staff. “That is when we have to mark Master’s theses, prepare the introduction, the first course week.”
That’s true, said Anke Sambath, associate dean of education, “but we have already spoken with the course coordinators and they think it is feasible. They can submit the resit exams to the Education Office far in advance. And marking could be done by everybody on the team. It only applies to a handful of students each year.”