Twelve non-Dutch graduates of the Design Academy in Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands are each claiming 50,000 euros in damages from the academy, because it misled them about the qualifications they would be awarded.
The students had enrolled on a course which they understood would entitle them to a Master of Arts degree, but in fact it led only to an internationally unrecognised Dutch qualification, Master of Design.
In April a court the southern city of Den Bosch ruled in the former students’ favour, and ordered the academy to pay them compensation. The court said the academy had failed to inform foreign students properly about the Dutch education system. Dutch higher education institutions are strictly divided into two categories: universities of applied sciences – like the Design Academy Eindhoven – and research universities, at a higher academic level. Only those in the latter category are entitled to award Master’s degrees.
Compensation
The alumni are claiming compensation not only for the cost of the course in Eindhoven but also for the extra tuition and living costs they will now incur in order to obtain an MA, and for lost income. The Design Academy is appealing against the court's decision. Henri Beelen of the Design Academy’s board declined to comment on the case except to say that the school “disagrees with the judge's point of view”.
The qualifications awarded by universities of applied sciences, or hogescholen, are an ongoing matter of controversy. In 2005, for similar reasons 26 alumni from the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam appealed for their tuition fees to be reimbursed. The academy had been entitled to award degrees in collaboration with Newcastle University in the UK. However, when a change in procedural rules brought this arrangement to an end, graduates could only be awarded a Dutch higher professional education diploma, or HBO. The Reinwardt Academy was then obliged to reimburse the difference in the tuition fees – a diploma course is cheaper than a degree course.
Confusion
According to a spokesperson for the Dutch-Flemish accreditation organization (NVAO), which assesses the quality of higher education in the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium, the confusion surrounding educational titles originates from the introduction of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the Netherlands in 2002. The Netherlands used to have only its own system of academic titles, but switched to the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree system so Dutch graduates would have internationally recognised qualifications. However, a distinction remains between the Master’s degrees offered by the two types of Dutch universities – one that is unheard of in other countries.
Dutch Education Minister Ronald Plasterk launched an inquiry into the problems surrounding the degree in April. The inquiry played down the extent of the problems experienced by Dutch graduates abroad due to the qualification confusion. However, Mr Plasterk wants the status of the lower-level Master’s degree to be more apparent. His proposal will be discussed in the Lower House on Monday evening.
| More from NRC Handelsblad International |
* With additional reporting by Loretta van der Horst and Michael Blass
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The Reinwardt continues to take advantage of international students. They fail to explain on their website that they are no longer accredited by any UK institution (they say they were the first, but do not mentione that they lost their accreditation when standards were raised), they fail to mention that a M. Museology is not internationally recognized, and they do not have standardized evaluation methods. Despite running at a deficit for the past several years, and despite the court ruling metnioned in the above article, the Masters course still costs over €9000. How can this school still charge so much money for a course that does not live up to the expectations of the students who are paying so much money to attend? How is this still happening after the Dutch court ruled that this tuition amount was too high for an HBO degree? Is anyone doing anything about this?
Also, the Reinwardt uses their position of power (they practically have a monopoly on museological education in Europe) and their network of contacts to coerce students into minimizing complaints about the program for fear that they will be unable to find suitable employment in the heritage sector if they verbalize negative feelings for the Reinwardt, the courses or its teachers. Once you are in the course, you have to finish it if you want to work in this field.
My advice would be to find another institution. The Reinwardt Adacemy is not a professional or fair institution to attend and it certainly isn't worth the money.
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