Studychoice.nl leading in European student surveys

The Netherlands is taking the lead in developing a National Student Survey for Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes. The resulting data will be suitable for use in international recognition systems. Studychoice is taking this initiative in order to promote transparency in European higher education and ‘to facilitate the international mobility of students. This development is a logical outcome of the Netherlands’ leading role in implementing the Bachelor’s-Master’s structure. The new survey will be both ‘BaMa-proof’ and ‘Euro-proof’.

From 2010 onwards, Studychoice will be conducting a Student Satisfaction Survey applying the results towards international comparison on the basis of various criteria. The Student Satisfaction Survey will also be suitable for use in other European countries. Studychoice aims to develop this survey in close collaboration with both national and European parties. Over the past few years, the Netherlands has gained a lot of experience in conducting a national student survey amongst Bachelor's and Master's degree students. The survey is being developed further on the basis of these experiences. Developers are also applying information from pilot projects in the Netherlands and Flanders conducted in collaboration with CHE, and their experiences with EUROSTUDENT.

Cultural differences
Anja van den Broek, Director of ResearchNed and charged with developing the new survey for Studychoice: ‘In developing the questionnaire, we have to take into account cultural differences between individual countries. As we have learned from project such as EUROSTUDENT and the Dutch Higher Education Student Monitor, questions that seem perfectly normal in the Netherlands can prove to be inappropriate in other countries. Over the past year, EUROSTUDENT has devoted a great deal of energy to the development of a new instrument, which saw its first application in Flanders. The development process was intensive and interactive. We gained a lot of knowledge that can now be applied in developing the new student survey. In addition, the growing number of Master's degree students (over one quarter of all university students) means that we have to integrate Master's-specific elements in our satisfaction surveys. We are working hard to do just that.'

Developing a transnational model
By developing a European model of a student survey for Bachelor's and Master's programmes, Studychoice hopes to engender support for this tool in other countries, thereby contributing to the transnational standardisation of data collection instruments for the higher education sector. Such a survey will help increase the transparency of European higher education, allowing for the international comparison of study programmes.

The Dutch national student survey (NSE) deals with all aspects of study programmes at universities of applied science and research universities: content and quality of the study programme, programme consistency, preparation for the professional field, lecturers, facilities and buildings. The survey now also features a new set of questions on competencies, harmonised with various parties including CHE. Students are also asked to rate the city in which they are studying, in terms of the availability and quality of student accommodation, cafes, restaurants and cultural facilities. The NSE thus has all the required elements to serve as a basis for developing such a new survey.

Introduction of Bachelor's-Master's structure
The European Ministers of Education signed the Bologna Declaration in 1999. The Bologna process was initiated in order to align the various EU member states' national education systems before 2010. Each country is working to institute comparable higher education degrees, such as undergraduate (Bachelor's) and graduate (Master's). Amongst other objectives, the Bologna process aims to facilitate international student mobility. Dutch educational institutions now offer about 1200 Master's degree programmes, of which one-third are taught in English. This number is continuously rising, a fact that is reflected in the data on Studychoice.nl. Due to its large number of Master's degree programmes, the Netherlands has already gained some experience in developing specific surveys for these programmes.

Transparency of higher education in the Netherlands
Transparency is an important aspect of the educational system in the Netherlands. To this end, the Studychoice.nl website allows visitors to compare the quality of the various study programmes on offer. http://www.studychoice.nl/ allows prospective students to make a straightforward comparison between various courses at universities of applied science and research universities. Prospective students can select study programmes on the basis of their specific areas of interest. They can also compare courses in terms of other criteria, such as student ratings of lecturers and facilities, the number of first-year students and the size of the university city. Studychoice.nl is designed to help international students make a balanced decision, and offers information comparing cities and facilities in the Netherlands. This is important as international students often base their decision on the institution, city and country as well as the area of study itself.

Studychoice.nl
Studychoice.nl helps improve the transparency of public and private higher education in the Netherlands for both Dutch and foreign students. Studychoice gathers information on study choice in its national database (data warehouse), conducts the National Student Survey and provides tools for study programme comparison, personalised rankings and study choice (http://www.studiekeuzeinformatie.nl/). The http://www.studychoice.nl/ website was created under the auspices of the Studychoice.nl partnership. The bodies representing Dutch higher education institutions (HBO-Raad^[1], VSNU^[2], PAEPON^[3]) and students' organisations (LSVb^[4] and ISO^[5]) are jointly responsible for running http://www.studychoice.nl/. The Studychoice Foundation is financed by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and powered by SURFfoundation (the higher education and research partnership for ICT in the Netherlands). A panel of independent experts chaired by Professor Martin Valcke monitors the research methods used and the quality of data published on http://www.studychoice.nl/.

[1] Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences
[2] Association of Universities in the Netherlands
[3] Platform for Officially Recognized Private Educational Institutions in the Netherlands
[4] Dutch National Union of Students
[5] National Student Consultation Platform