Half a ton of compensation for student medical assistance
The University of Applied Sciences of Arnhem and Nijmegen has to pay a former medical aid student nearly 45 euros for a study delay. Two students from later years of study will not receive any compensation.
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With a HBO diploma in medical assistance, graduates can work in ambulance care, in the emergency department or in anesthesia. Before they receive that paper, they must first do an internship. But that was not so easy.
Initially, the position was not listed in the BIG register for medical professions, which meant that the care providers were not allowed to perform certain actions independently. As a result, the students could hardly get an internship anywhere. This led to study delay and lawsuits for damages at HAN, Hogeschool Utrecht and Hogeschool Rotterdam. Even now - nine years and a BIG registration later - finding internships remains an “unruly issue”.
Failed
In an interlocutory judgment, the Gelderland court had already decided that HAN must pay compensation for the delay in study at least one former Bachelor's student of medical assistance from the 2010-2011 academic year. The university college had not sufficiently taken into account the chance that there would be too few internships and had not properly informed the student about this. This week, the judge calculated that the compensation amounts to almost 45 thousand euros, plus legal costs of more than four thousand euros.
The National Student Law Office (LSR), which assists the student, is pleased with the decision. “Students are finally getting confirmation that HAN has failed to fulfill its duty of care,” said chairman Xagan Heerbaart.
Students finally receive confirmation that HAN has failed in its duty of care
Two other students, who later started with the bachelor of medical assistance, have not been successful. The university of applied sciences did inform them in good time and sufficiently about the problems with finding an internship, according to the court. The LSR does not give up and appeals.
Conversely, HAN can also do that. The university of applied sciences is still studying the verdict and is not expected to come up with a response until next week, a spokesman said.
Unique
In total, about two hundred students have registered with the LSR. They jointly claim more than a million euros. According to the organization, this is unique within education law. Earlier, the court also ruled that HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht is liable for the study delay incurred. The LSR is in talks with the university of applied sciences about reaching a settlement for these students. The case of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences has yet to be brought to court.
