Photo: Marte Hofsteenge The number of MSc programmes at Wageningen University described as ‘top’ has gone down from 21 in 2018 to 13 in 2019, according to the Dutch Master’s degree guide Keuzegids Masters, published on Tuesday 5 March.
Dean of Education Arnold Bregt sees two reasons for the drop. ‘On the one hand, you can see that other universities have started taking their educational work more seriously. The score in the Keuzegids is relative. So that means our score gets lower if our programmes maintain the same standard, while other programmes improve.’
Impact of growth
Then there is the impact of growth, Bregt thinks. ‘It is the law of the large numbers. Wageningen is known for its small classes, but the number of students has grown in recent years, and the number of teaching staff has not kept up.’
Bregt takes the figures seriously. ‘We take all relevant figures about education seriously. We analyse them, discuss how we can improve things, and take action. The National Students Survey revealed that Wageningen was not scoring so well on preparation for the job market. So to improve on that, all programmes now have to organize a minimum of five interactions with professionals in the field each year –things like guest lectures or excursions.’
WUR is still the best university
WUR is still the best university, says the guide, with a total score of 68. The science universities of Twente and Eindhoven follow at a distance of one and three points, respectively. These three science universities score higher than the general universities. Delft is the only science university with a relatively low score, 57.
Below the results. Programmes that score 75 points or higher, get the predicate ‘top programme’.
| Programs | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Animal Sciences | 80 | 76 |
| Aquaculture & Marine Resource Management | 78 | 62 |
| Biobased Sciences | — | * |
| Bioinformatics | 80 | 76 |
| Biology | 80 | 80 |
| Biosystems Engineering | 66 | 70 |
| Biotechnology | 82 | 74 |
| Climate Studies | 80 | 70 |
| Communication | 70 | 74 |
| Development & Rural Innovation | 64 | 72 |
| Earth & Environment | 76 | 74 |
| Environmental Sciences | 76 | 75 |
| Food Quality Management | 82 | 76 |
| Food Safety | 80 | 76 |
| Food Technology | 82 | 80 |
| Forest & Nature Conservation | 84 | 84 |
| Geo-Information Science | 88 | 92 |
| Intern. Development Studies | 72 | 73 |
| Intern. Land & Water Management | 90 | 86 |
| Landscape Architecture & Planning | 64 | 58 |
| Leisure, Tourism & Environment | 80 | 82 |
| Management, Economics & Consumer Studies | 70 | 68 |
| Molecular Life Sciences | 88 | 72 |
| Nutrition & Health | 78 | 72 |
| Organic Agriculture | 76 | 68 |
| Plant Biotechnology | 80 | 78 |
| Plant Sciences | 84 | 80 |
| Urban Environmental Management | 80 | 73 |
* From the programme Biobased Sciences were no student evaluations available.
