BSA in brief
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at least 40 ECTS by the end of the first year (for Medicine and Dentistry students: at least 38 ECTS)
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propaedeutic phase completed within two years
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a negative BSA is valid for a period of 2 years (starting 1 September of the subsequent academic year)
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a negative BSA for a certain degree programme may also apply to a cluster of related degree programmes
Clustering
A negative BSA for a certain degree programme may also apply to a cluster of related degree programmes. At the University of Groningen, the Faculties of Economics and Business, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Law have clustered certain degree programmes.
Binding Study Advice system - what is it exactly?
Bachelor students at the University of Groningen will receive a Binding Study Advice (BSA; always negative) if they earn fewer than 40 ECTS credit points by the end of their first year of study or if they have not gained their 60 ECTS propaedeutic certificate within two years. Students who do not meet these requirements will have to leave their degree programme. To help you, the University will provide good supervision of first-year students, for example by means of an extensive mentor-tutor system, in order to ensure that you know exactly how you are progressing.
Binding Study Advice system - why?
The first year of a Bachelor’s programme is known as the ‘propaedeutic phase’. Traditionally, the first year functions as a phase for orientation and referral, and the Binding Study Advice system will reinforce these functions. The University aims to encourage you to prioritize your studies – studying and performing should come first, while other activities, like student life, part-time jobs and sports, even though they are important as well, need to take a lower priority.
The introduction of the Binding Study Advice system will enable the University to refer students, who turn out to be unsuitable for a certain degree programme, to another programme in which they will be more likely to succeed. You may simply have made the wrong choice of degree programme or you might be unable to keep up with the level of the programme. In such cases everyone, both the University and you, will be better off with an early change in degree programme, either at our university or at a university of applied sciences.
