Wageningen students protest against night classes

Students at the Wageningen University are protesting against the executive board's plan to start experimenting with night lectures next year, NOS reports.

"We believe that the plans are bad for student life: Wageningen is small and association is very important", student Aart-Jan van de Glind said to the broadcaster on behalf of the students, united under Niuewe Universiteit Wageningen (New University Wageningen). He adds that night classes will also interfere with many students' sports or jobs, which are even more important now that the basic study grant has been replaced with a loan system.

The students are also against the rate at which the university is growing. "We see that in the last years focus has been on growth, growth and more growth, But the budget that comes from The Hague is limited", Van de Glind said. "If you see how much the university spends on promotion, then we wonder: is that the way to go. We'd rather see the university invest more in education facilities."

According to the protesters, the university takes on too many students for the budget and that is why other measures, like night classes, are now necessary.

The University acknowledges that there is a capacity problem and that the buildings are too small for the number of students, which doubled since 2007. To cope with that, the university is investigating how to better utilize the space and night classes is one of the possibilities. A possibility that was discussed with lecturers and students, according to a spokesperson for the executive board. "So they have been consulted", the spokesperson said to NOS.