By Myrielle Winkelmann
More and more Dutch universities are beginning to remove academic distinctions like cum laude and summa cum laude, citing concerns ranging from student burnout to detrimental effects on the learning experience. Dutch university colleges, AUC included, have been more resistant to keeping up with this shifting educational environment, but that may be subject to change – and soon.
Earlier this semester, AUC’s management tasked the student council with finding out where AUC’s student population stands on the matter. The answer was decisive: out of 98 students polled in the AUC group chats, 85 percent wanted to keep the distinctions as they were.
Laura Herberg Fernandez, a second-year Social Sciences student and the student council’s Communications Officer, similarly acknowledged that this is a divisive subject matter within the council. Ultimately, however, most students they spoke to did not have a strong opinion on the matter. Although some members of the student council felt it should be removed, an overwhelming majority of students voted to keep the distinctions as they are. “We represent the students. So if the student body is telling us ‘no, keep them’, then we’re not going to do anything further about it.”
When asked why AUC students seemed more resistant to removing these distinctions than students at the UvA, Fernandez posited that it might be a difference in academic culture. “I think there is also a difference in the way we, as students, see our own academics versus what management thinks,” they said. As an example, Fernandez highlighted that the old slogan – diversity and excellence – was removed by management due to concerns of pressuring students. On the contrary, Fernandez stated, students chose an honours college and do not feel the need to remove distinctions, which they hope to gain from.
Nevertheless, Marianne Riphagen, AUC’s Director of Education, remains steadfast in her belief that the college should remove distinctions. According to her, the initial implementation of the distinctions occurred in a vastly different educational environment than the current one. AUC initially served as an alternative to the ‘zesjescultuur’ (the Dutch equivalent to ‘C’s get degrees’), which encourages doing only as much as necessary to pass. Ambitious students, according to Riphagen, felt less at home in that culture. “So in that context, there was the setting up of university colleges, including AUC, and there was a strong emphasis on excellence, defined as academic performance.” Nowadays, Riphagen said, AUC prefers to view excellence in terms of every person admitted to AUC having the ability to discover and develop their own talents.
Dr. Riphagen emphasised that rather than merely being a conversation about distinctions, this is a chance to create a larger discussion about learning. “The conversation in the first instance shouldn’t really be about the distinction itself, but it should be […] about what learning is, how people learn best, and how you stimulate one’s development.” To her, such a learning environment should allow for challenges and mistakes, rather than those that focus on grading. This, she warns, may not be compatible with distinctions – particularly summa cum laude. In particular, Dr. Riphagen cited concerns regarding strategic behaviour from students, including “protecting” their GPA over taking courses with high potential for growth. She sees this as at odds with AUC’s promise of broad and self-guided learning.
Responding to student concerns that removing distinctions may make it more difficult for students to leverage their degree, Dr. Riphagen noted the concern about differentiating oneself in a competitive job market. However, she also remarked the following: “I rather think that there is increasing attention for what people have besides strong academic performance, such as resilience, creativity, and strong collaborative skills in intercultural teams.”
While fully removing distinctions may take years, AUC seeks to begin exploring how it affects student learning. AUC may launch pilot programmes as early as next September, wherein courses like Academic Writing Skills will no longer be graded on the numerical scale – except for the final paper, that is. Instead, the course might implement process markers like ‘satisfactory’ and ‘excellent’.
Fernandez voiced some concerns regarding whether the pilot will actually succeed in lowering student stress levels as intended, pointing out that the emphasis on process in other parts of AUC’s degree, such as the capstone, often causes anxiety for students. “I understand where [management is] coming from, but students would still be stressed wondering, what does ‘satisfactory’ mean if at the end of the day I’m still getting graded?”
The Herring 