UM: Eurotop for Top Students recommendations

A Lonely Planet, not for travelling this time, but for mapping out universities in the Netherlands and abroad. A properly-organised package of information providing an analysis of the pros and cons of the various universities based on clear criteria: this is what today’s prospective students really need, according to those taking part in the Eurotop for Top Students. The current rankings, which are held in great esteem by both the media and the universities themselves, are actually of very little use to students when trying to assess the quality of a university.

This is one of the conclusions formulated by the 43 students from 11 different countries who took part in the Eurotop held at Maastricht University. On Friday, 17 November after three days of debate, they presented their conclusions to the group, prompting yet another round of hefty debate.

This Eurotop revolved around the questions ‘what is quality of education?’ and ‘does internationalisation benefit the quality of education?’ The majority of the students did not see quality as a constant factor that can be universally assessed according to one set of criteria. To enable individuals to judge for themselves which university can offer them the best quality, universities must start providing clear, honest information about the courses on offer and their strengths and weaknesses. The idea of a ‘Lonely Planet’, preferably including analyses from the students themselves, was met with wide support. The ‘official’ rankings are often produced on the basis of external evaluations, and high-profile universities like Oxford, for example, already have a strong head start. ‘Other qualities of the university, like its dry atmosphere, are not mentioned in these rankings’, explained one of the students. The students were also concerned about government practice of linking funding to these rankings, which enables wealthy, top-ranking universities to maintain their positions with very little effort.

Source: Maastricht University press release, 20 November 2006