Leiden recruits volunteers to check theses
The Leiden Law Faculty is asking former colleagues and emeriti to volunteer to help check Bachelor's theses. The rector of the university thinks it is 'great', but there is also strong criticism.
Picture: Pxhere
Due to the corona crisis, the universities are counting a lot of first-year students this academic year. It is so busy that Leiden Law School is turning to an unorthodox means: recruiting volunteers.
Exceptional
The idea is that if emeriti professors and former colleagues want to help temporarily, the real teachers will have more time to properly supervise the first-year students. These are 'exceptional times', writes Rector Carel Stolker about it. The idea is supported by Maastricht rector Rianne Letschert. She tweeted last weekend: 'Good idea! Emeriti have also come forward to help us. Fine!!'
With this volunteer work you let an unauthorized person do teaching work, while young talent does not get a job, or only on short-term temporary appointments
Others think that marking theses is 'structural work' and speak of bread robbery. It bounces AObhead director Marijtje Jongsma to the chest: “There is no teacher shortage in academic education. There is, however, a high workload and structural overtime due to a shortage of resources for teachers. With this volunteer work you have unauthorized teaching work done, while young talent does not find a job, or only on short-term temporary appointments. ”
No solution
At Leiden University, no less than 75 percent of the lecturers are temporary, says Jongsma. "So displacement of labor." People should just be paid for this work, according to Rens Bod of the protest movement WOinA Actie. Chairman Peter Dusenberg from the VSNU university association calls recruiting volunteers “absolutely no solution” and wants the government to allocate more money for the universities.
It is not surprising, however, that a law faculty of all places has too few lecturers to absorb a tidal wave of first-years. Traditionally, the law faculties have few lecturers. In Leiden there is 1 teacher for every 35 students, as it turned out in 2018 visitation by education inspector NVAO, and only half of the teachers have a PhD. With the large influx of new students, the ratio will have become even more skewed this year.
Nationally, the staff-student ratio last year was 1 teacher to 19,7 students, according to the website of the VSNU university association.
Also read: 'Teacher nomad gets lost in academia'
