Minister wants ‘payment per credit’ in the law

Minister wants ‘payment per credit’ in the law

Studying at your own pace and paying per credit: some students benefit from this. As of the academic year 2023-2024, ‘flex-study’ may become law, thinks outgoing minister Van Engelshoven.

In recent years, two universities of applied sciences (Windesheim and Utrecht) and three universities (Utrecht, Tilburg and UvA Amsterdam) have been experimenting with a system of flex-study. Participating students did not pay per academic year, but per credit point.

Caregivers, top athletes
The system would be useful for family caregivers, students with a disability, top athletes, entrepreneurs, student board members and graduates. It would make higher education more accessible to these students.

Indeed, one in five students say they would have stopped studying if they had not been able to do so, according to an evaluation by the expertise centre ECBO. The participating students seem satisfied. They give flex study a score of 7.9 out of 10.

Flex study requires time and effort from the educational institutions: it should be administratively and procedurally well organized. Study advisors also have to help students with the choices in flex-study.

But it is effective, according to ECBO, because fewer students drop out. The extra guidance from the student advisors can largely be set off against the attention that these students, given their circumstances, would have required anyway. (HOP, BB)