The same standard, a different path

If you have been following the news recently, you may have seen stories about universities responding to students whose educational journeys have been disrupted by conflict, crisis, or other extraordinary circumstances.

When I was asked to write about this, I first thought I would write about those students themselves. But while reflecting on it, I realised that what stayed with me most was not their stories alone. It was the broader question behind them.

What does it really mean to give someone a fair chance?

Those of us who work in admissions spend our days evaluating academic qualifications from different educational systems around the world. Our responsibility is to determine whether applicants are academically prepared for higher education. It is a role that requires fairness, consistency, and transparency.

For admissions professionals, merit must remain at the heart of every decision. Academic standards protect not only the quality of education, but also the integrity of the admissions process itself.

Over the years, however, I have learned that fairness is not always as simple as treating everyone in exactly the same way.

I have never been a strong believer in positive discrimination. I believe opportunities should be earned through qualifications. When I was hired at Utrecht University, I never believed I was selected because I filled a diversity box. I believed I was hired because I had almost twenty years of experience in higher education, most of it in admissions. I trusted the process, and I trusted my CV.

That belief has not changed.

What has changed over the years is my understanding of fairness.

Sometimes, creating equal opportunities requires different pathways. That does not mean lowering standards or giving someone an unfair advantage. It means recognising that not everyone starts from the same place.

Some students have had educational journeys interrupted in ways most of us will hopefully never experience. Others face barriers that make a traditional pathway difficult or even impossible. Those experiences should never replace academic merit, but they may explain why an alternative route is needed to demonstrate it.

We do not admit students because of where they come from or what they have experienced. We admit students because they meet our academic requirements. Sometimes, however, circumstances require us to think differently about the pathway, not the standard.

Whenever universities create an alternative pathway, questions naturally follow. Is it fair? Does it treat everyone equally? Are standards changing?

These are fair questions. Public institutions should be questioned. Universities should be able to explain their decisions, especially when those decisions involve public trust and public resources.

But perhaps the most important question is this: when qualified students have the ability to succeed, are we willing to create a pathway that allows them to demonstrate their merit?

To me, that is not the opposite of fairness. It is fairness.

Creating one pathway does not close the door for others. It simply recognises that people do not all begin from the same starting point.

Behind every admissions file is a person.

As admissions professionals, we spend our days evaluating diplomas, transcripts, language certificates, regulations, and deadlines. It is easy to focus only on documents and procedures. But every application also represents someone’s hopes, uncertainty, determination, and future.

This does not mean we should become less strict. On the contrary, we must remain careful. Compassion should not replace academic quality. But academic quality should not prevent us from asking whether a qualified person has had a genuine opportunity to show what they are capable of.

This experience also strengthened something I often tell my own team.

Trust matters.

Every day, universities make difficult decisions. Admissions officers, academics, policy advisers, and many others try to balance fairness, academic quality, responsibility, and compassion. We do not always get everything right, because systems are built by people, and people make mistakes.

That is why trust should never mean blind acceptance. We should continue asking questions. We should continue improving our systems. We should continue holding institutions accountable. That is how public trust is earned.

When I first started writing this article, I thought it would be about a specific group of students.

Instead, it became a reflection on what more than twenty years in admissions have taught me.

Merit should always remain at the heart of university admissions.

But merit is not measured by how easy someone’s journey has been. It is measured by what they are capable of when they are finally given the opportunity to demonstrate it.

Creating pathways is not the opposite of merit.

Sometimes, it is the only way merit can truly be recognised.

On Staff's Viewpoint, UU's employees share their views with the UU community. Ceren Genc, Team Leader of International Student Admissions, is one of the columnists invited for this space. You can also read students' perspectives on Students' Viewpoint and click here to check students' and staff's columns in Dutch.