NSE: Study pressure too high, many students find
Nearly four in 10 students think that study pressure is too high. At universities, the pressure is still just slightly higher than at colleges, according to their answers in the National Student Survey.
How satisfied are students with their programs, teachers, tests, and facilities? More than 289,000 college and university students completed the National Student Survey this spring.
At universities, more than 80 percent of students are satisfied or very satisfied with their education “in general,” while only five percent are dissatisfied (or “very dissatisfied”). Ratings for colleges are lower. Of all college graduates, 67 percent are satisfied (or very satisfied) with the program in general. Nine percent are dissatisfied and nearly one in four students rate them “neutral.”
Students in agricultural programs (college and university combined) have the highest ratings for their programs. The lowest ratings were given to programs in the educational sector and economic studies.
Study pressure
The survey also asked about study pressure. Both in the HBO and in the WO, 55 percent of the students find study pressure “just right,” while a considerable proportion calls the pressure too high: over 37 percent.
A higher education student is more likely than a university student to believe that his or her education should be more demanding. The NSE does not ask the students to estimate how many hours they spend on their studies.
Involvement
The Studiekeuze123 foundation, which organizes the survey on behalf of the Ministry of Education, points to the relatively high scores for atmosphere and involvement. For example, 85 percent of students agree with the statement “I feel safe being myself at the institution where I study,” while four percent disagree. “This shows that most students feel at ease with their education,” director-director Ingrid Kolkhuis Tanke said.
Students are less satisfied with the information they receive from the program: 14 percent (one in seven students) give it a failing grade, although the majority remain positive.
“Among college bachelor students, dissatisfaction with this topic seems to grow the longer they study,” writes Studiekeuze123. Among college freshmen, 13 percent are dissatisfied, compared with 22 percent of fourth-year students.
Corona
The corona crisis put a big dent in student satisfaction, and higher education has still not recovered from that. Before the corona crisis, 84 percent of WO students and 73 percent of college students were “generally” satisfied with their education.
The questionnaire was updated in 2021, so most outcomes are no longer easily comparable, but the first question (how satisfied are you with your education in general?) is still pretty much the same. The scores used to be four to five percentage points higher.
Strengths and weaknesses
The results of the NSE are available on the website Studiekeuze123.nl, where young people can orient themselves in their choice of study. Weekly magazine EW (formerly Elsevier) and the Keuzegids also use these results as a basis.
The student survey is controversial because the results lead to rankings. What do these student opinions actually say about quality, critics ask. And just how comparable are the scores between the two programs?
On top of that, there have been problems with the implementation of the survey in the past, leading to reluctance at institutions. Colleges did not participate for a year just before the corona crisis. The cabinet at the time then made participation mandatory.
