Student union concerned about education quality in new assessment setup

Student's union LSVb are concerned about a planned change in the assessment rules for college and university courses currently being examined by the Ministry of Education. This change would shift assessment from courses to institution, and the union worries that this would allow sub-par courses to fall through the cracks, AD reports. A total of 71 college and university courses currently do not meet Dutch standards. The majority of these are given to a college of university whose overall quality is sufficient. If the Ministry approves the shift in assessment from individual courses to institutions, these below standard courses would not be noticed. The LSVb thinks it is important to be able to give students a guarantee on the quality of their education. "This guarantee can only be given if each course is assessed independently and externally." The union investigated the number of courses in currently in the recovery process to bring them up to standard. According to LSVb, nine out of ten of these courses would not have been identified as below standard courses in the new setup.