Page 10 - University Student Council Policy Plan 2020-2021

Highlighting the issue of growing mental health issues amongst students and increasing the visibility of student psychologists, councillors, and advisors
Continuation and alteration of the previous plans for Health Week
Self Development
It is important for students to develop themselves outside their curriculum. As USR we want to make sure students are provided with these opportunities from the broad range of facilities the VU offers. For example, talented students can take part in the VU Honours Programme, which we as USR collaborate with to constantly improve the programme.
Some of these facilities, such as the A Broader Mind programme, have already been functioning in an online setting for some time. Others, however, such as the Health Week and the Honours Programme, need to be adapted to our current form of hybrid education. Since we already have a focus on improving digital education as well as having better contact with students at the VU, we want to use this for our collaborations with these platforms so that we can ensure the quality of each of these programmes. Additionally, we want to make sure students are still aware of these opportunities, despite the altered form in which these programmes now function during Covid-19.
Stimulating personal development of students through extracurricular programmes
Collaborating with extracurricular programmes that are still transitioning to a digital format to ensure their accessibility and quality to students
Matching & Transitioning during Covid-19
The selection of study programmes offered by the VU is enormous and this makes it difficult for students to make the right choice. The percentage of students terminating their studies before the start of their second year is between 30-35%. It is therefore important that students choose a study programme that suits them well, because making the wrong decision can have a detrimental financial impact.
In addition to the VU website, social media platforms, information days and more in- depth activities, the VU Matching system plays an important role in making a good study choice. However, we have noticed that the VU Matching system only looks at whether your expectations, interests and capacities match the programme for which you have applied. Most of the matching activities also take place after signing up, since a VUnet account is necessary to be able to participate in the first place. Since it will be more difficult for students to participate in physical matching activities this year, due to most physical activities being cancelled, we advocate for updating the VU Matching system. We want students to receive much more detailed advice from the university to see which other programmes within the same university could match their expectations, interests and abilities. In addition to that,
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