BSA standard at AGZ is 50 to 45 credit hours; “Give students a little more space.”

Before Christmas, the Central Participation Board approved the Council's proposal to require that the binding study advice standard be within a bandwidth of 45 to 54 EC. This threshold was previously higher, when a student still had to obtain a minimum of 48 points to a maximum of 54 points, depending on the course. AGZ Academy is the first to report the BSA downgrade. This applies to bachelor's programs in nursing, physical therapy, and podiatry.

This decision can be made quickly, according to director Klein Overmen. “We started this year with a new curriculum, in line with Saxion’s educational vision, which includes the BSA standard of 45 credits. Because we work with blocks of 5 credits, and one module of 10 credits. This allows us to give students a little more space.” For example, missing one extra session.

Arrange quickly

This desire was already there last year to obtain a bachelor's degree in AGZ, but there was still no room to lower the level below 48 EC. “We see that the dropout rate in our academy is high and that students are stressed,” says Klein Overmen. Lowering the BSA level should help with this. This desire has already been expressed by the team leaders and management team, and the testing committees have also agreed, according to Klein Overmen. “That's why we can now arrange this quickly.”

Klein Overmen notes that the AGZ administration wants to quickly inform students of their situation. For many students, 1 February is an important date, because if you stop your studies before that date, you will not have to pay back the basic grant and public transport card.

Lowering the BSA level is not without controversy: critics point out that students may encounter problems later in their studies. Klein Overmen points out that this has been taken into account. “That opportunity exists, of course,” he says. “But we believe that with our new programme, with more and more targeted training in home groups, we can support students better.”

Because if a student does not pass the old standard on the 10 EC test, that student will immediately be stressed. “We know from experience that this results in less motivation for most first-year students, because they have a much lower chance of success,” Klein Overmen says. “Now we have a little more margin and students can learn better and are given the space to develop themselves.”

Switch to another course

Saxion wants to do more for students who have a difficult first year at Saxion. This will facilitate the transition to another course. For this purpose, there will be a “secondary permutation”, whereby points previously reserved for a third-year minor can be used to obtain points for another course.

The Executive Board would also like to introduce a “transfer route,” whereby students who do not have enough points to study second-year subjects would be given the opportunity to use the points they have earned in a secondary transfer program. The option is also on the table to abandon the BSA entirely. But the Central Participation Council has not yet approved this part of the Executive Council proposal.