UvA ends English-language bachelor’s degree in psychology
The Executive Boards of various universities in the Randstad area, including the UvA, are taking the plunge and discontinuing ‘under condition’ the English-language bachelor’s in psychology. This was announced by college president Edith Hooge on Tuesday afternoon.“Everything we have worked for has been sacrificed today.”
Edith Hooge announced in English on Tuesday afternoon in the hall of the psychology building on the REC (building-G), that the English-language bachelor’s programme in psychology will be discontinued as of the 27|28 academic year and that only the Dutch-language bachelor’s will be continued. In anticipation of the Balanced Internationalisation Act the UvA has decided to do this in consultation with the umbrella organisation Universities of the Netherlands (UNL). Other universities in the Randstad conurbation will then also lose their English-language bachelor’s programme in psychology. In the region – including Maastricht and Groningen – these programmes will continue to exist.
Foreign language education test
There has been months of discussion about the universities’ response to the Balanced Internationalisation Act, a law that has yet to be passed by the Dutch House of Representatives en the Dutch Senate. Part of that law is the Test of Foreign Language Education (the so-called TAO), which all English-language programmes must pass to prove the necessity of English within an otherwise Dutch context. The UvA estimates that this “burden of proof” could be a difficult task. It is expected that this will have major consequences for the UvA, with all its English-language programmes.
Under condition
One of the reasons why Hooge agreed to the cancellation of the English-taught bachelor’s psychology is that she fears the programme will not pass this test. She also believes this to be the case for other English-taught UvA programmes. “The prospect of the TAO is worse than the measures we are now taking. That is why the university has opted for a short-term solution, which Hooge calls “a self-regulation plan”. She says there is no other option, but she is not happy about it either. “It was a very difficult choice, and one we are not happy with.” The bachelor’s degree in psychology will therefore be abolished “on condition” that the TAO is scrapped, according to Hooge. She also said that all students currently following the English-language psychology track will be able to complete their degree. She also said that the programme “will be compensated” for the loss of this track. She left the nature of the compensation open.
Trump
Psychology staff listened to her story and that of FMG dean Christa Boer in astonishment, especially since – in their opinion – much has already been done to reduce the number of international students. “We are being thrown under the bus as a programme,” said professor of psychological methodology Han van der Maas. “Everything we have worked for has been sacrificed today,” said Ingmar Visser, director of the College of Psychology. He speaks of a “sacrificial offering” by the universities to prevent the language test from being introduced. Merel Kindt, chair of the department of psychology: “Look at what happened today at Harvard. There, they simply do not accept the Trump administration’s policy. We should do the same and we will do the same. Our fight is not over yet. People act as if passing the language test is a fait accompli, but it is not. English is and will be the language of science and the language of the future.”
Couch and chip shop
According to Visser, UNL has allowed its ears to get too much caught up in the negative sentiments that are said to prevail in the cabinet about psychologists in its negotiations with the Minister of Education, Culture and Science. “According to the cabinet, we would be training people for jobs on the therapy couch and in the chip shop.” Dean Christa Boer expressed herself in similar terms. “There is a negative sentiment about psychologists within the government.”
Currently, the intake for psychology is 540 first-year students, divided fifty-fifty between the Dutch-language and English-language tracks. Visser doubts that the disappearance of the English-language bachelor programme will be compensated by an additional influx of Dutch-speaking students. “Before we started with English, we had a total intake of 300. I don’t see that increasing again to 540.’
Economics
Today it was also announced that the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at the UvA will also be losing international students. The intake for the English-taught bachelor programmes in Business Administration and Economics and Business Economics will be limited to a maximum of 1200 students by means of an enrolment quota. A Dutch-language track can be introduced for other bachelor’s programmes so that, if necessary, a quota can be set for an English-language track.
According to Hooge, these measures together mean that the total international enrolment at the UvA will decrease by twenty percent. Moreover, international students and staff receive extra support to learn Dutch. According to the UvA, this increases their chances of following a Dutch-language curriculum here and/or staying on after graduation. It seems unlikely that the measures announced today will be withdrawn. Hooge: “As UvA, we are committed to collective decision-making within UNL.”
