Headlines

Future veterinary surgeons' graduations are in danger if thefoot and mouth epidemic isn't brought under control soon. Fifth andsixth year veterinary students ran out of patients weeks ago. TheVeterinary Medicine compound in De Uithof has become a fortress. Nocows, sheep, goat, pigs, deer or even horses or poultry enter orleave. Internships have been brought to a total halt. Coursedirector P. van Breukelen hopes the epidemic will be under controlsometime in May, which would enable the faculty to solve theproblems, albeit at the cost of some delays in graduation. If thecrisis takes longer to avert, the faculty will need alternativesfor the internships, he said.

Ruppert

Transitorium I - De Uithof's first university building - is nextThursday to be ceremonially renamed the Marinus Ruppertgebouw.Trans I has been renovated and currently houses De Uitwijk and theStudent Service Center. The idea is to create a "student street".The architect intended Trans I as a mall-like inside street toshelter students and faculty from the windy and desolateJohannapolder, which is what the Uithof was still called at the endof the 1950s. Project coordinator Dr Marinus Ruppert (1891-1992)took the initiative to build Trans I and sowed the seed which wouldgrow into De Uithof. A bust of him will be unveiled at theceremony.

Selection

Five Universities of Professional Education and threeUniversities including Utrecht have selected a part of their ownstudents during the last year for degrees with limited places(medicine and veterinary medicine in Utrecht). But UPEs anduniversities experimenting with selection at the gate pick all thewhiz kids. The UU even requires a UPE or University diploma. What'smore, candidates older than 30 are turned away. This is all againstthe spirit of the experiment, says the Winny Sorgdrager commission,which drew up the selection criteria. Education Minister LoekHermans is concerned: getting high marks means higher pressure ofwork, which will wipe out relevant extra-curricular activities andstop students gaining work experience, factors which were supposedto play also a role in the selection.