This evening on Radio 1, the Rector Magnificus of Utrecht University Bert van der Zwaan repeatedly stated that students should not be selected for admission to university programmes with a numerus fixus by a weighted lottery (gewogen loting in Dutch), but by looking at their exam scores in secondary education, motivation, and competencies to finalize the study and become a good professional (like a good physician). He stated that Utrecht University, in its University College, looks at these data for selection purposes (‘not a cheap procedure’), and that it reduced the drop-out rate from 25% to 10% over the last 10 years by this approach (‘reducing drop-out saves a lot of money’).
