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Examining Board

What does the Examining Board do?

The Examining Board for Economics was founded in accordance with Article 7.12 of the Dutch Higher Education Act. The Examining Board ensures that the diplomas which the department of Economics awards are based on a responsible and fair testing of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that the academic programme upholds. The Education and Examination Regulations (EER) is the point of departure for the work done by the Examining Board. In addition, the department of Economics has set up a number of guidelines.

Among the various tasks that the Examining Board performs is the task pertaining to exams, the way things are organized during the exam period and the assessment of project reports play an important role. The Examining Board appoints examiners, supervises the orderly administering of exams and the post-perusal, fights fraudulent practice, determines the sanctions that should be taken for students who have committed fraud, promotes and monitors the quality of the testing, decides how the EER (Education and Examination Regulations) should be applied and determines whether it is justified in exceptional circumstances to deviate from the rules. In addition, they award exemptions, select students for admission to the Bachelor programme or the Master programme and determine who can be allowed to take interim and final examinations.

The Examining Board is also there to support lecturers in maintaining the quality of their testing and evaluation methods. They develop guidelines for this purpose and a course portfolio is compiled with all of the useful information concerning a course. The Examining Board regularly monitors if testing has been done in a responsible way.

When should you contact the Examining Board?

A number of situations are listed below in which you might consider contacting the Examining Board. It is, however, always advisable to contact your study advisor first from your academic programme in order to determine if it is necessary or desirable to follow an official procedure. If this is the case, then you will have to send an official letter in which you register your complaint in regard to the decision concerned, or in which you convey your request.

  • you believe that something is wrong with the way in which the testing took place and you think that the lecturer did not offer a suitable solution.
  • you find that unfairly you have not been admitted to a course or an exam.
  • there are exceptional circumstances which played a role in a rejection or a disqualification.
  • you believe that due to exceptional circumstances you are entitled to another opportunity to be tested or assessed and that waiting for the next opportunity will unfairly affect you.
  • you cannot be present during a diploma-ceremony and you would like to have your diploma sent to your home address.

How do you get in touch with the Examining Board?

The first person you should contact is the secretary of the Examining Board, Mr. A. de Vaal.

  • Requests for information should be sent by e-mail to examencommissieeconomie@fm.ru.nl.
  • Formal requests that are addressed to the Examining Board should be submitted through this webform. Please adhere to the instructions given there.

Normally, you will receive a response from the Examining Board within a month.

How can you avoid having to contact the Examining Board?

“You are better off sticking your nose in your textbooks than trying to study the EER”. Should you encounter a delay in your study, you should then pay attention to the rules that are meant to prevent these types of delays, such as the M-in-two-rules, as well as the expiration date of interim examination results. Do not skip an opportunity to sit an exam. If there is a chance that you will not be admitted to a course in the next stage of your study, then reconsider which rules apply and come up with a feasible study plan. Get in touch with your study advisor and discuss with him your intention to contact the Examining Board with a request or complaint.

Applying for exemptions

If you believe that you should receive an exemption for a certain subject, then you can submit a request for an exemption. In your request, you should emphasize which subject it concerns (including the subject code) and on the basis of which subject(s) for which field of study you believe that you have a right to an exemption. Include a course description, with the required reading list for these subjects, and in addition, you should include a certified list of grades which show the results you received and the study load conveyed in ECTS credits. The Examining Board will subsequently decide, after having consulted the coordinator for the subject for which the exemption is being requested, if the request can be granted. For this the following assessment criteria have been set:

  • The subject based on which you request an exemption is equivalent to at least as many credits as the subject for which the exemption is being requested.
  • The subject matter of both courses is very similar.
  • The language of instruction for the course is either Dutch or English.

Requests pertaining to Admission Rules and to Rules for Monitoring Students’ Progress

The study programme Economics has two different rulings concerning admission:

  1. Admission to the 2nd year of study ("Binding Study Advice");
  2. Admission to the Masters programme (from the Bachelor then from the Higher Professional Education premaster programme);

These rulings can be found in the EER. They are subject to change slightly from the one academic year to the other. The purpose of these rulings is (1) to stimulate the students’ progress, (2) to signal a delay in the study on time; this is in the interest of both the student and the study programme, and (3) to guarantee the academic level of study. The reason behind this rationale is that the students who have lost ground will not be able to participate in the subjects which are soon to follow.

When there are exceptional circumstances in which you do not quite meet with the requirements for one of these rulings, then you can request that the Examining Board make an exemption to the rule. Depending on the situation, the Examining Board can in that case provide a provisional admission, award an extra opportunity or postpone a deadline (for example, a 3 month postponement for the Master-in-two-years ruling.

If you would like to submit a well-grounded objection, then it is important to contact your study advisor and/or the secretary of the Examining Board as soon as possible. At the beginning of the new academic year especially, it can be very busy with the number of special admission requests. The Examining Board will do its best to see to all the requests submitted by students before 1 September and provide a response by 30 September at the latest. You will be taking a risk if you participate in subjects for which you have not yet officially been admitted until the decision has been taken to admit you.

Fraud & plagiarism

The EER defines fraud as any act or omission by a student that by its nature is aimed at making a correct assessment of the knowledge, understanding and skills of the student, or of another student, wholly or partially impossible. Forms of fraud are ‘cheating’ during exams, but also copying the results of an assignment completed by fellow students. One particular form of fraud is called “plagiarism”. This is when someone does not cite his or her sources, or he or she does not do this properly in, for example, project reports, assignments, term papers, theses or other scholarly pieces which have been worked on during the academic study. Plagiarism is a scholarly sin and the Examining Board will respond accordingly with harsh treatment. Depending on the degree of offense, the Examining Board can expel those who have cheated for up to a year from all educational activities at the faculty. The Examining Board will not pronounce a verdict until they have heard those concerned plead their case.

Students who have assisted other students in cheating successfully can also be punished. One example is when students knowingly supply another student with the answers to an assignment, which subsequently a student hands in as his or her own work. Students are obliged whenever group work is done, to ensure that the assignments completed by their fellow group members are free of plagiarism.

By citing your sources correctly and by referring to scholarly texts you can prevent yourself from committing plagiarism unwittingly. Read more about fraud and plagiarism here.

Members of the Examining Board for Economics

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