You might have heard this already:
This Friday in The Hague there is going to be a large protest against the new law that the coalition government is going to enforce on higher education. In a nutshell, the law is about making students that are late in finishing their university studies to pay tuition for every extra year in the university. Also the university will have to pay a large part of these costs as opposed to what was happening so far where the state was covering all these costs.
It seems really debatable whether this measure is completely towards the wrong direction or the other way round. As can I conclude from my small experience in the university, there is a general feeling among the faculty people that many students should have more motivation in their studies rather than leaning back on the fact that there is plenty of time for them to graduate. Professors sometimes get really pissed off when they see the same unmotivated students failing the same course again and again and taking time out of their research to correct assignments and exams from such people.
On the other hand, it seems that the Netherlands has a special student culture; part of it is due to the university sports clubs and organisations that promote socialisation among students. It is difficult to imagine that such organisations will keep up in the same pace if all their members are stressed with the burden of finishing on time. Also, there is an argument that, under the new law, universities will prefer to help unconditionally the incompetent students to pass their courses on time so as to avoid paying the costs of extra year education. This would definitely drop the level of quality in the Dutch universities. Others say that the new law will just create a system similar to the Belgian one, where students are filtered out en masse in the first year of their studies; if they can't make it they will be forced to drop out in the very first years of their studies.
To get back to Friday's protest, TU/e is totally helping its students to participate; for the exams that were planned to take place on Friday there is the opportunity for the student to join the protest and take the exam in another date. Students are also informed where they can go to make their own banners for the protest! Our lovely TU is definitely supporting the protest.
So, nothing more to be said. If you intend to go, put on your rebellious/streetwise spirit and march for student glory! Here's some music to warm you up:
