TU/e is the best university of technology in the Netherlands. That is the outcome of the annual ‘Best Studies’ survey by the publishing house Elsevier. Overall, the Eindhoven students (54.5%) are second to Wageningen University students (63.2%) as being most satisfied with their university. In total, 2,151 higher education studies were put to the test.
To arrive at a fair comparison, Elsevier divided the universities and higher education institutions into categories based on the breadth of the studies and specialisms. Wageningen University is the best Dutch university. As for broad-based universities, Radboud University Nijmegen wins while TU/e comes out on top in the race for universities of technology.
The Elsevier website contains the lists along with the evaluation by students and teachers of the various studies in the Netherlands. The researchers also looked at the social life of a student city (like density of pubs and cultural amenities), job opportunities, choice between an institution of higher education and a university, broad and specialist studies, financing (the costs of studying) and extra-curricular activities.
Fine student city?
Eindhoven is eleventh in the favourite student cities list (of 30 cities). The Eindhoven students give the catering and cultural amenities in the city a score of 4.2 on a scale of 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied). Groningen is the finest student city followed by Nijmegen and Utrecht.
The Elsevier weekly journal has compared all the studies in higher education in its survey, and the evaluation by students and teachers lays the basis of the outcome. In addition, Elsevier provides extra quality and background information per study.
The evaluations by students are obtained from the National Student Enquiry (NSE). The Best Studies is initially intended for high school pupils who are intending to follow a Bachelor degree program. Secondly, it is for Bachelor students who are looking for a suitable Master degree program. Furthermore, the survey looks at studies in their field, matters relating to acceptance requirements, study recommendations, graduation success, dropout rates, the student population and ‘study switchers’. Finally, the quality evaluations of the NVAO (Netherlands Flemish Accreditation Organization) also count towards the outcome.
Students evaluate their studies according to:
• Facilities
• Educational establishment of the study
• Teachers
• Testing
• Organization and communication
• Overall evaluation by students
• Study recommendation, or not, to others
Source: press release TU/e