`My first reaction was, is that absolutely necessary? It's one of the arrows that is shot at education without any consultation,' opines Wim van der Linden, Behavioral Sciences professor in Measurement Methods and Data Analysis. `I can imagine that first-year students like to see the professor. It will certainly make the educational program more attractive, but it doesn't imply the necessary improvement that Plasterk alludes to. Most importantly we should look at which lecturers are best qualified for the job.'
`And that's certainly not always the professors,' says Jan van Alsté, director of the educational program of Biomedical Engineering. `They are often too occupied with research. Professors are not didactically educated enough to convey the basic subjects like calculus to first-year students. We regularly invite professors to give a sort of guest lecture, in which they give students a perspective on their specialty.'
Van Alsté's colleague, director of Behavioral Sciences educational program, Egbert Woudstra thinks that Plasterk's idea might result in capacity problems. `Professors would like to give lectures to the first-year students, but they need to do research and provide for master's program lectures as well. It's just too much work to do first-year lectures on top of that.'
Klaus Boller, professor in Laser Physics, sees the capacity problem more as a financial one. `Professors need to achieve and they do that by writing good publications and bringing in money for research projects. If the UT would appraise the educational programs with more money, a professor should and would be able to invest more time in giving lectures.' Boller himself gives lectures to first-year students for a couple of years now and is enthusiastic about Plasterk's plan. `Professors are the people who can inspire students the best with stories of the research front. A student is more impressed by a professor than by a laboratory worker.'
Professor Han Bressers, head of the Center for Clean Technology and Environmental Policy, also thinks it is helpful if students get to know professors from the beginning. `They're the main attractors of the educational programs. I'm not sure whether the quality of the bachelor's programs really improves. It's mostly of a symbolic nature, but that doesn't make it less important. It's a signal to first-year students that they're taken seriously.'
Paul de Kuyper
Trans. Henriëtte van Dorp
