What you need to know about the bachelor changes

If you are a bachelor student you probably have received emails in your student mail recently about the upcoming bachelor's degree renewal. This renewal will start in the upcoming academic year (2024/2025). Many people will probably think: all fun, all those lengthy emails, but what do I have to do with this?  

The last bachelor's degree renewal was already ten years ago. In the meantime, the world is changing faster than ever. Because of this, a renewal of the bachelor's program is a logical response. It is important to realise that it will not be a completely different study after the renewal. The innovations are being made to raise the bachelor's degree to an even higher level, but the learning principles will remain the same. These characterise the study and are a good basis, as we can see from the ranking list of ‘QS World University Rankings’ where we have a third place rating in the world.  

Let's get straight to the point: what changes will occur in the program next year? Most learning tracks remain the same titlewise. One exception to this are the OV (Overdracht en Vormgeving/Transfer and Design) and AC (Academische vaardigheden/Academic Skills) learning tracks. These will be combined into a new learning track WV (Wetenschap en vaardigheden/Science and Skills). This way, the academic character of the study can become clearer and we can connect this science part to digital, personal and social skills. In addition to this, the content of all learning tracks will be updated.  

More air is needed in the educational program. Over the years, individual additions to the program have been given space to build up and thus increase the workload for both students and teachers. Decreasing the content quantity, getting in some air, in the program will reduce the workload, which creates a healthier situation for everyone involved in the bachelor's program.  A standard testweek will also be added to the program. This will be a class free week so you have enough time to learn for your tests. This will hopefully give us students a bit more comfort around tests.  

Next to that more attention to reflection and freedom of choice will be implemented. Improving academic skills and an academic attitude will become more important in all learning tracks. This also means that students have more freedom of choice in the course, especially in the third year. This aim for freedom and academic reflection results in the combination of ON5 (Ontwerpen/Design 5) and ON6 (Ontwerpen/Design 6) to IOP (Integraal Ontwerpproject/Integral Design Project).  To increase the amount of reflection a personal-development week will be added at the end of the first and third quarter. This is a full week with no study program, but instead workshops you can follow to improve your personal development and a small personal reflection assignment. This way there is enough time to philosophise about what type of designer you want to be, how you handle feedback or what you want your style to be.  

In this fast changing world, updating the content and form of education is also important. Current technical developments and social themes will be incorporated within the education. Examples of new developments are AI and Virtual Reality. By incorporating these components into the program, students build valuable skills that can also provide a great benefit after their study. // 

 

Now you probably know a bit more about the bachelor changes that will take place next year. If you have any more questions you can visit the site of the TU or the BK studentportal where a broader description is given. Please send us your opinion about the bachelor changes! We would like to incorporate your opinions into a new article. You can send this to our mail address: pantheon@stylos.nl  

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