Sarah Evink, chair of the Intercity Student Consultation (ISO), is “super pleased” that research confirms that students often have good reasons for taking longer to complete their studies. “Contrary to what many people think, it is not because they do nothing but drink beer. If politicians consider study delays such a major problem, they should ask students how they can help them. Let’s stop with sham solutions such as sending students away after their first year because they have not earned enough credits.”

The ISO points out that illness is not a conscious choice. Sarah says: “It can happen to anyone; of course, there is nothing you can do about that.” She also points out that it is no coincidence that Dutch students are champions when it comes to having part-time jobs. “They don’t do that for no reason, of course; they need it to make ends meet.

Positive and negative consequences

The consequences of study delays can be both positive and negative.

Positive

Some students consciously choose to delay their studies in order to develop more broadly, desk research shows. They take additional courses or participate in extracurricular activities such as committees or projects. The main reasons for this are personal development, networking and strengthening their CV. These forms of delay contribute to personal growth and can promote student success, even though they extend the duration of study.

Negative

The desk research shows that students experiencing study delays have lower well-being and more often experience psychological complaints such as emotional exhaustion. At the same time, it appears that students with mental health problems also experience study delays more often. There is therefore a reciprocal relationship between mental health and academic progress: psychological complaints can lead to delays, and delays can in turn worsen mental well-being. Another negative consequence of study delays (which is not entirely separate from this) is the financial pressure they entail. This applies to individual students, but also to the collective budget for higher professional and academic education.

Call to politicians

According to Sarah, politics now has the opportunity to address the problems during the coalition formation: “Let’s stop with sham solutions such as the binding study recommendation and look at what really helps. So remove the binding element from the binding study recommendation and increase the basic grant so that students can focus on their studies.”

About the ISO

The Intercity Student Consultation (ISO) represents all students in higher professional and academic education through its member organisations, the participation councils. The ISO is the regular discussion partner of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, political parties and the umbrella organisations of universities and universities of applied sciences. The ISO has 42 member organisations and 11 covenant partners, which together represent more than 800,000 students.

Read the complete research here.