Those are the results of an on-line survey of almost 800 students conducted by Newcom Research & Consultancy. The focus was on the ramifications of the far-reaching collaboration of education and research between the universities of Delft, Eindhoven and Twente.
Discussion of the cooperation plans of the three Dutch TUs has not escaped the students' notice: 84 percent are to some extent aware of the sector plan, and 81 percent consider the future cooperation `somewhat' or `very' important.
According to 44 percent of the students, the consequences of the sector plan are (very) positive for the content of the their study program at the UT. Also, they (54 percent) think the program quality will be improved. Only 30 percent of the students believe the cooperation will prolong the lifespan of their program; 18 percent think it will shorten it. Between 34 and 50 percent of the respondents expect the sector plan to have no effect whatsoever on content, lifespan or quality of their program.
40 percent of the students suppose the cooperation of the three TUs will eventually lead to a merger, and an equal percentage disagrees. That merger should not lead to the disappearance of a recognizable UT, because 55 percent of the students would rather study at the UT than at the `Technical University of the Netherlands'.
Also, concerning the choice of their Master's program, UT students are quite attached to Twente: 63 percent prefer earning a Master's degree at their own university. No interest is shown in earning a Master's from Delft, while 1 percent would seek it at Eindhoven and 4 percent would opt to continue their schooling abroad.
A sizable number of students voiced concern about the negative effect of the Science and Technology sector plan on the UT. As noted by 29 percent of the interviewees, all the attention being given to the sector plan, which is only concerned with the UT technical programs, is drawing attention away from the UT social programs. 65 percent of Behavioural Sciences students consider the potential repercussions of the sector plan to be (very) harmful to their program. At the faculty of Business and Technology, forty percent of the students think the sector plan has mostly adverse effects on the continuation of social programs at the UT.
Trans. Jeroen Latour
