Hendriks is pleased that WUR has decided against evening lectures, but is not overjoyed about the extended timetable. ‘At present the lunch break is 75 minutes and in the new teaching timetable it appears to be only 30 minutes. A great many events and meetings are scheduled in the lunch break but the new timetable may make this difficult. Perhaps we would prefer to have a fixed lunch break of an hour and shorter breaks at other times of day.’
Hendriks also wants an educational opinion on the shorter lecture sessions. ‘Shortening the teaching periods by five minutes gives students less opportunity to ask questions. I am curious to know how lecturers think they can deal with that.’
In addition, the Student Council still has some objections to teaching in the early evening. ‘While the extended timetable offers more flexibility than evening lectures, we also see disadvantages. The Student Council is therefore keen for the Executive Board to come up with more scenarios from which we can choose.’
In early May the various consultative bodies will hold a discussion evening about the extended timetable.