Almost half (49 percent) of all the students from pre-university classes manage to obtain a BSc degree from the university within four years, according to statistics of students who started in September 2007. From the batch of 2004, only forty percent succeeded, reports Statistics Netherlands today. One explanation is that most universities have in the meantime implemented the ‘harde knip’. Not so long ago, it was possible to start on a MSc study even before completing the BSc study. As a result, some students strove to obtain both their BSc and their MSc certificates in the same week. But many universities are now stricter towards first year students. New students have to obtain a minimum number of credits before they are admitted to their second year of study. This could be why youngsters are able to study faster nowadays and eventually also obtain their degrees earlier. Male students continue to lose out to the females. Only 38 percent of them manage to obtain a BSc degree within four years, compared with 58 percent of female students. Even in the heavy technical and exact courses, women are still much faster than men: respectively 47 percent and 33 percent finish within four years. Standing out most are students in agricultural studies and veterinary medicine: more than two out of three students manage to get a BSc degree within four years. Here too, women perform remarkably well: three quarters of them get their degrees on time.
University students get their BSc degree faster
The trend continues: university students are getting their BSc degrees faster. Women still do better than their male counterparts, with technical students lagging behind the rest.
