“Our research demonstrates that if students expect much of themselves at the beginning of the year, that has a positive effect on their performance. Those who plan to obtain a lot of ECTS credits seem to perform better than those who don’t make plans. Knowing what you want to do after your bachelor’s degree programme also seems to play a role. Students who do not have any idea about what they want to do – and there are many of them in certain degree programmes – are more likely to drop out. Finally, having a relevant part-time job also appears to have a positive effect on degree completion rates, provided that the job does not take up more than ten hours of the student’s time per week. Otherwise the job becomes more important than studying.”

“It seems to be a good idea to encourage students from the very beginning to aim for high performance. Helping students to develop a career path also appears to be effective. Moreover, it is worthwhile to create more relevant part-time jobs and to recognise them as a form of training. The faculty of law, for instance, does not just help students to obtain part-time work at law courts and law firms; it is also able to recognise the skills that the students acquire in these positions as part of their skills training. This enables us to react to calls from society for students to acquire more practical skills.”