The announcement that the Notebook Plan will be revised for the coming academic year was made on Monday afternoon in the University Council. In a written statement, the Executive Board stated that TU/e is keen to 'invest in the quality of education and in educational facilities such as the Learning Management System (LMS) and Student Information System (SIS)'. This will involve no structural increase of the budget of the Education and Student Service Center (STU).

One of the measures intended to enable this is a cost-saving in respect of the Notebook Plan. “The Plan will focus more closely on the Bachelor's,” said Executive Board President Jan Mengelers at Monday's council meeting. Among other things, this means that the Plan will no longer be offered to first-year pre-Master's and Master's students.

Mengelers was able to provisionally promise that pre-Master's and Master's students will continue to enjoy a reduced purchase price, made possible by the university's bulk buying of notebooks. According to Floris Verhagen, project leader at STU, this proviso is necessary because agreement has yet to be reached with the supplier about the logistical feasibility of the promise. “However, these students will no longer receive hardware support,” reported Mengelers.

In addition, senior students will be excluded from the second participation scheme, whereby TU/e offers its students the opportunity of participating in the Notebook Plan for a second time but without subsidy. This is subject to the condition that the first participation was more than three years earlier. Unlike the first-time around, in any second participation of the scheme, students get only a notebook, no accessories. On the other hand, they are entitled to the manufacturer's guarantee and support for another three years.

For first-year Bachelor's students the Plan will remain largely intact, the only change being a reduction in the guarantee period from five to four years. Groep-één was keen to know why the guarantee period had been shortened by 12 months. Mengelers attributed this to the Plan's increased focus on Bachelor's students, who usually complete their studies in four years.

In the new academic year all educational software will be made available to every TU/e student, whether or not they are a Notebook Plan participant. In addition, the ICT Service Student desk will support any student who needs help installing the educational software.