The NSE figures show that the over 92,000 surveyed university students remain generally satisfied: on a scale from 0 to five, they give their program a rating of 4.1, just as they did in 2018. More than 3,5000 TU/e students took part in the survey and gave an overall rating of 4.1, same as last year. The opinion of TU/e students on the size of groups, information provision and quality assurance improved with one decimal point (to 4.0, 3.6 and 3.9 respectively). The study facilities in Eindhoven received a score of 3.9, whereas in 2018 that score was 3.7. The only rate that declined was the one for ‘challenging education,’ which went from 3.9 to 3.8.

Refusal

The NSE results appear four month later than usual, and the student opinions of government funded institutions of higher education were not incorporated into the survey. They refused to participate in the NSE 2019 last March, after mistakes were made that undermined the survey’s reliability. Unlike the universities and non-government funded institutions of higher education, they didn’t expect that the survey’s failings could be repaired, even though Statistics Netherlands (CBS) saw ample opportunity for improvement.

Shame

According to Studiekeuze123, the study choice website that commissioned the survey, NSE 2019 is reliable as ever. This is confirmed by research conducted by the CBS. Studiekeuze123 spokeswoman Pauline Thoolen thinks it’s a shame that the institutions of higher education eventually decided against participating in the NSE’s repair, but she also understands the decision. “We put great demands on the institutions to still provide us with extra data. That took them a lot of time and energy.”

Mandatory participation

In mid-October, education minister Ingrid van Engelshoven sent a legislative proposal to the House of Representatives that makes participation in the NSE mandatory for government funded institutions of higher education and universities. Since the discussions about reviewing the survey questions for 2020 have failed, she fears that support for the NSE will erode, and that survival of the national survey could come under pressure.