The student faction Letteren Vooruit in the Arts faculty council has expressed its distrust in the faculty board, which reacted visibly shaken.
This occurred during the latest faculty council meeting. Letteren Vooruit, which holds all student seats, read a statement accusing the board of misinforming the council regarding the maximum number of exam moments per year.
Budget cuts
The Faculty of Arts wants to implement significant educational reforms in response to impending budget cuts. One of these reforms is the transition from 5-ECTS courses to 10-ECTS courses. According to the board, this also involves reducing the number of exam moments.
Since last academic year, the board has advocated for a maximum of eight exam moments per year to alleviate workload for staff and reduce competition between exams for students. The board has repeatedly stated that this maximum is part of the central policy of the University of Groningen (UG).
Misinformation
This, however, turns out not to be the case. Letteren Vooruit stated: ‘Presenting the plan as university policy has prevented us from exercising our advisory rights. We would have been able to do so if this had been presented as a faculty board plan.’
The student faction claims that this issue has led to a sense of distrust towards the board, adding that this is not an isolated incident. ‘We must emphasise that we find this pattern of misinformation and inadequate consultation unacceptable.’
When asked, Anja Hulshof, spokesperson for the university’s board of directors, confirmed that ‘a maximum of eight exam moments per year’ is not central UG policy. However, she noted that there has been a long-standing aim to ‘eventually have a maximum of two courses per block or a maximum of eight grades per academic year’.
After the publication of this article, she added that two years ago, as part of the cost-cutting programme TeRUG in Balans, the board asked faculties that had not yet implemented this change to do so.
Another conflict
The debate over educational reforms has been ongoing since last academic year. Previously, the entire faculty council expressed dissatisfaction with how the board communicated about these reforms. The board acknowledged that it had moved too quickly and promised to improve communication with the faculty.
In September last year, another conflict arose between the council and the board—this time regarding the removal of elective courses. The council felt that the faculty had again been insufficiently informed, causing confusion and additional workload for some staff members.
Written statement
According to Letteren Vooruit, ‘the continuous misinformation between the faculty board, the faculty council, cluster boards, programme committees, and staff as a whole is resulting in a faculty community that does not trust its administration’.
Distrust within Letteren Vooruit has now run so deep that the faction is demanding a written statement from the board regarding the matter before the next council meeting. If this statement is not provided, it plans to escalate its concerns to the university’s board of directors.
Visibly overwhelmed
The faculty board appeared visibly overwhelmed by Letteren Vooruit’s statement. Interim board member Sander van den Bos responded: ‘The idea that we would deliberately withhold information makes it very difficult to have an open conversation. In my twenty-six years working here, I have never been called a liar. I truly believe we need to discuss how we communicate with each other. Social safety goes both ways.’
Dean Thony Visser of the Faculty of Arts agreed with him.