DUB Panel: 'We would prefer workgroups not to get any bigger'

Several programmes in the Faculty of Social Sciences are increasing the number of students in their workgroups. More and more classrooms will be filled with 24 students to allow the faculty to save money by requiring fewer teachers and teaching spaces.

Students from the Faculty of Humanities should also be prepared for crowded classrooms. The faculty's plans for educational reform and more efficient programmes consider workgroups of up to thirty students.

What do the members of the DUB panel think about this?

Education scientist Casper Hulshof:
"Our programme, Education Sciences, is used to having larger workgroups. This has been more or less the reality for years. Now, it has become the standard even more.

In our tutorials, we work a lot with group assignments. The groups are often larger than they used to be to keep things manageable for the teachers. Though that increases the chances of free-riding and other undesirable collaborative practices, we can't help it.  It's not ideal.

It is not completely unworkable, though. The biggest problem is logistical: workgroup rooms are often not designed for big groups. A lot of chairs have to be lugged around and sometimes there is just enough room. Or not enough room. Several rooms in the Buys Ballot building are simply too small. But they are scheduled anyway. We also have to squeeze ourselves in and out at Bolognalaan."

Philosophy student Nina Keijzer:
"This is worrisome. As a student, this means that the quality of education is deteriorating for us. Smaller working groups offer teachers the opportunity to pay more attention to each student, give more personal feedback and go into the material in more depth.

I am used to workgroups of about fifteen students, where each student gets enough attention and feedback. But I've already noticed there is too little time to cover all the material during a seminar.

In my opinion, workgroups should have no more than twenty students. Maybe it would be a good idea to adjust the attendance requirement. Students could decide for themselves if they need a tutorial to understand the material. This way, personalised, high-quality education could still be provided to the students who need it."

Innovation scientist Frank van Rijnsoever:
"This is an undesirable development. In recent years, the university has put a lot of effort into providing small-scale and intensive education. When the basic grant was abolished in 2015, some of the money 'saved' was invested in this (the grant was reinstated in 2023, Ed.).

It makes sense to spend less money on this when budget cuts need to be made, but it is a great pity. With 24 students, the room is filled to the brim, so it is hard to get everyone involved in the discussions, not to mention the room gets too hot and unpleasant, so everyone wants to leave as fast as they can.

"In my view, to have a good debate, you can't have more than sixteen students in class. If there are more, it gets more difficult to interact productively with the students. However, the number of students also depends on what you want to achieve. If it's more about assignments, then 24 might be doable. Perhaps we could shorten the duration of tutorials and split the group in two. They would get less time, but a better debate."

A seminar at the Faculty of Humanities. Photo: DUB

Master's student in Law Emma Ravenhorst:
When I was in high school, I had Greek classes for five hours a week with the three other poor wretches who had chosen that subject. It was lovely. Then, when I was on exchange, I had tutorials with just one other girl in a professor's office. You learn more in such a situation compared to a seminar with over 25 students, of course. However, these semi-private classes are not feasible at the university level.

My experiences with large seminars vary widely. Such tutorials are sometimes labelled as "homework reading clubs" and I have certainly experienced them that way in the Law programme. Unfortunately, the discussion in many of my tutorials was limited to a panel comprised of the teacher, my best friend, myself, and maybe another nerd. The other 25 people just watched. 

On the other hand, as a student at University College, I've often seen classes with 28 students who had so much to say the lecturer could not give everyone a turn, so he had to ask people to formulate their thoughts concisely. So, a committed seminar does not depend on the number of students.

The biggest disadvantage of the policy to increase the size of workgroups is that subjects with few interested students may be cancelled, and it is a shame to lose that diversity. Perhaps this pain could be alleviated by offering students some leeway to research something they enjoy for a writing assignment or presentation."

IT Academy course coordinator Laura Hompus
"I don't want to be Negative Nancy, but I am very curious to know how teachers will ensure that students develop the competencies they had in mind with such big groups. And what do you do if you're a student and your classmates are all more vocal and demanding of the teacher's attention than you are, but you still need an extra push?

In my work for the IT Academy, I organise development courses for UU employees. Most of the plenary courses that include interaction and discussion assume a maximum of 10 to 16 people. That is a conscious choice. That's enough people to learn from, but not too many to get lost in the crowd.

I would love to know what an educational expert thinks about this and how one can make a workgroup with over 25 people useful for everyone, students and teachers alike. I just can't see how yet."

Research analyst Mies van Steenbergen
"This will undoubtedly lead to poorer education. But we can't just sit back and do nothing, soon there will not be enough teachers if the groups are smaller and that is a fact. As a result, the teachers who remain will have more on their plates.

"Students could resist this by going on strike, for example. But, in the current situation, fewer students also means less money. So that leads us nowhere. The only solution is for students - even now that they have successfully managed to push the government to abort the idea of a fine for students who take longer to graduate - to continue protesting against the budget cuts so that we can have more teachers and smaller groups."