The meeting of the central committee education did not go completely smoothly. Especially the director of education of Mathematical Sciences (TW) did not want to agree to the concept-report 'Bachelor-master structure at the UT'. Frank Twilt understands that the introduction of bachelor-master is unavoidable. But the director of education is not happy with the positioning of the minor. According to the mathematician it belongs in the master. And not, as the board of governors (CvB) proposes, in the final year of the bachelor.
Until this summer everybody at the UT was under the impression that the minor would be placed in the fourth year of five-year programmes. TW, but also, TN (Applied Physics), EL (Electrical Engineering), and CT (Chemical Technology) adapted their curricula accordingly. 'We cannot now do it completely differently', according to Twilt. 'I have agreements with the technical universities of Delft and Eindhoven, with our partners abroad and I have just finished my programme. I cannot now move the minor to the third year. Our faculty was first in line with the introduction of major-minor. We are now being punished for that.'
According to rector Frans van Vught has the introduction of bachelor-master in the Netherlands overruled the original plans for major-minor. 'All universities in the Netherlands will be offering broad bachelors and specialist masters in a year's time. The competition for quality will be over the masters. With bachelors we should compete in breadth. Therefore the minor belongs in the third year. It cannot be done differently.'
Twilt and Pauw (director of education for TN) revealed after the meeting that they were sensitive to Van Vught's arguments. Twilt: 'As directors of education of the four dissident faculties TN, EL, CT and TW we should see what we can do. But I do see that because of the plans of Secretary Hermans we cannot do anything else but move the minor to the third year.'
If TN, CT, EL and TW indeed decide to do that and the University council (U-raad) agrees, the UT will get subject-oriented bachelors of 126 study credits and four types of specialist masters of 42 (four-year programmes) or 84 (five-year programmes) credits.
Labour-market-oriented masters prepare students for a job in business or government. In research-oriented masters the emphasis is on science. Students who have successfully completed a research master can do their PhD in three years. Teaching masters contain, besides study-specific courses, courses on teaching, and grant a first-grade teaching degree, with which one can teach the second half of secondary schools (and below).
The CvB, furthermore, wants to offer top-masters. Students wishing to take part will have to go through a strict selection procedure. These programmes will probably be associated with focus institutes (so-called 'speerpuntinstituten').
Besides top-masters the UT will offer, from 2002, two bachelors for excellent students. One for social sciences and for technical sciences. The broad and general university programmes will get the title Twente University College, like its American model.
