Information about educational matters of Faculty of Humanities

General information

Here you will find an overview of the members of the Education Office of the Faculty of Humanities.

Annual calendar, timetable and study guide

The academic calendars of VU Amsterdam and the Faculty of Humanities. This annual calendar contains information about teaching weeks, examination and resit weeks, education-free days and holidays.
An overview of the most important logistic events you can find on our Logistic Calendar (in Dutch).
Timetables can be found at rooster.vu.nl. The timetable for the first semester is published half July. From the first week of December the timetable of the second semester is known. A draft timetable is published in advance. It is important to check this draft timetable and submit any requests for changes within the set deadline.
More information about the Educational planning process can be found here.
Our schedulers are Trudie van Kampen, Saskia van Es and Claire Sikkes. They can be reached via rooster.fgw@vu.nl
The Study Guide can be accessed via this link.

Urgent timetables matters

For urgent matters regarding the timetable you can contact our schedulers directly. Trudie van Kampen: 020 598 8282, Saskia van Es: 020 598 5054 or Claire Sikkes: 020 598 5470.
If our schedulers are not reachable, you can make a reservation via FCO, 020- 598 5777.

Register for classes, exams and resits

Students need to register for every course. Registration and deregistration for courses and exams is possible within the registration deadlines for the period in which the course or exam takes place. For courses in the first period of the Academic Year, students can register until the end of the first week of the course period. For courses that are scheduled throughout the whole academic year, students can register at any time during the year. For more information visit register/deregister for courses and exams.
The exact amount of students you can expect for a course or exam is only certain once the deadline for the registration and - if applicable - the late placement process has passed. You will find the number of students in the Canvas Course or via the candidate list.
Via the candidateslist it is also possible to see how the students are divided among the workgroups, if applicable. Information about how to use this candidates’ list can be found on VU.nl. In addition to the usual details of a registered student (student number, recidivist, students with disabilities), you can also see which specialization/graduation programme the student is doing.
Only students who are registered for a course automatically have access to the course in Canvas.
Teachers do never add students to their Canvas course themselves. If they do, a student is not fully registered for the course and their results can not be administrated. Therefore it is very important that students register for a course.
If a student approach you after the registration deadline, please refer them to VU.nl, where the student can make a request for late placement or where the student can submit a complaint form.

Protocol cancelled course or change in teacher/coordinator

If a course is cancelled, or a teacher/coordinator changes during the current academic year, you must follow the protocol.

Examinations, thesis, internship

General information on the construction and assessment of examinations can be found on the Exam Organisation page.
Specific examination rules apply during an examination .
Situations in which it is possible to deviate from the standard procedure for examinations: Students with a disability who have been granted the provision of 'extra time' by their Academic advisor can indicate for each examination enrollment whether they wish to use the extra time (30 minutes). In the event of such a request, the Education Office will provide a place in a (possibly separate) room and instructed supervisors. If a student is allowed to use additional devices (e.g. taking an exam on a computer), the Education Office will always inform you about this in advance.
More information about internships can be found here.
More information about theses can be found here.
You can use this form (in Dutch) to submit a dissertation grade.

Grades

Students are entitled to inspect their own assessed work during a certain number of working days after the announcement of the results of an examination. For the regulations concerning the right of access, see the Faculty Teaching and Examination Regulations (FHUM) for Bachelor and Master.
You have to enter the results yourself via 'Registration of Results' on VU.nl. Don't forget to use the 'validate' button. Only then the results are saved and can be viewed by the student via VU.nl. If a student is not registered in VU.nl, you can add that student yourself during the registration. More information on how result registration works can be found here.
Results published on Canvas are not officially registered. You also need to register the results via 'Registration of Results' on VU.nl.
Attention: you need to enter a result for all registered students of a course. This also applies to students who have cancelled their examinations but are still on the exam list. This is very important because students can only attend a resit if a result has been entered for the first opportunity. If a student has not appeared at the examination or has not completed any of the assignments, please fill in a 'NS' (no show) as a result. If a student has only completed part of the assignment(s), you will fill in a 'NVD' (niet voldaan: not completed) as a result.
The above also applies to resits.
In exceptional cases, it is possible to change a grade that has already been entered and validated. You can’t do this yourself. You need to fill in this form. The Education Office will process the request for a change.
In VU.nl you can see with what type of result your course will be concluded this academic year (this may be a grade, a pass/failure, etc.). During the current academic year changes are not possible. If you would like to finish your course with a different type of result, you can indicate this for the next academic year via your programme director.
Partial grades: You cannot register the results of modules with more than one (partial) grade yourself. You can request an Excel list from onderwijsbureau.fgw@vu.nl and also return it here after completion. The Education office will scan and register these results.

Forms

For registration of a thesis result, the supervisor should sent this form (two readers) or this form (3 readers) to the education office. Please submit the complete digital thesis file (in pdf), to the education office (thesis, thesis contract and all assessments form.
You can submit the grade for an internship using this form. Please don’t forget to send along the assessment form of the external supervisor and the internship report.
In exceptional cases, it is possible to change a grade that has already been entered and validated. You cannot do this yourself. You need to fill out this form to do so. The Education Office will process the request.
Has the student taken a resit, but you cannot register this grade yourself via VU.nl? Then fill in this form for each individual student.

Use this form for all other courses taken by students for which you cannot register the result via VU.nl

All completed forms can be send to the education office by email: onderwijsbureau.fgw@vu.nl.

Plagiarism

When suspecting fraud or plagiarism, please report this immediately to the Examination Board (via examencommissie.fgw@vu.nl). Please attach an Ouriginal assessing report. The Examination Board will invite the student for an interview and will then determine whether and which sanction is to be imposed.

Graduation

More information about theses can be found here.
Students can apply for their diploma via VU.nl (graduation and diploma) once all the required credits have been registered.
Important information about graduation in the summer (July and August) for both bachelor’s as master’s students can be found here.
As soon as the dates of the Graduations are known, they will be published on this page.

Application and student questions

On this page you will find more information about the application procedure for a VU bachelor's degree. Information for international students can be found here.
VU Study Choice is linked to enrolling in a bachelor's degree.
On this page you will find more information about the application procedure for a VU master's degree. Information for international students can be found here.
The VU Guide has been created to give VU students an overview of important and useful matters.
Students who have practical questions about, for example, a Proof of Payment Tuition Fee (BBC), or who want a declaration of graduation or a certified transcript, can contact the Student Desk. If the staff of this student desk is unable to answer a question, they will contact the Faculty's Ofice of Education. The faculty itself does not have a student service desk.
Students with questions about their study programme or with personal problems can contact their Academic advisor.
Students wanting to submit a request to the Examination Board must do so via VU.nl.

Course evaluations

In the event of a course evaluation, the students will receive a questionnaire at the end of the course. If one of your courses is to be evaluated, you will receive a notification by e-mail. You have the opportunity to add extra questions. Two weeks after the exam date, you will receive the evaluation report. It is strongly advised to give feedback on this report. Students will receive a short summary of the results as well as your feedback (if available).
Non-standard education (for example: excursions, extracurricular activities) can also be evaluated – requests can be send to evaluaties.fgw@vu.nl.
If you have any other questions, please contact evaluaties.fgw@vu.nl.

The assessment file

Teachers create a so-called assessment file for each course they coordinate. The assessment file consists of several documents (such as the course manual, written exam, answer key). An overview of the assessment file criteria can be found on this page. There you can also find other information about assessment, for instance about the use of the cover page (regarding written exams) and the requirements for a good exam. For reasons of quality assurance, the Examination Committee’s assessment chamber may request a course coordinator to hand in the assessment file of the course concerned.

ICT in Education

The ICT in Education team supports teaching staff with active blended learning, the learning management system (Canvas), digital assessment and various applications for education.

For support with one or more of the above, please contact the ICT in Education team via FGW.icto@vu.nl.

For general IT support, please contact the IT Service Desk.

Copyrights

If you use study materials online (for example in the Canvas site of your course), it is important to consider the royalties for images and sounds. Royalty violations may be subject to heavy fines. Read Rules and Guidelines before composing your online readers.

Policy documents and regulations

The Teaching and Examination Regulations (TER) for each programme can be found in the online Study guide. In the TER, you will find the main outlines of the educational programme and examinations for each programme. TERs from before 2018-2019 can be found in this archive for Bachelor's and Master's programmes.
There is a Disability Policy Plan (in Dutch). See also the online information about studying with a disability. In addition, this leaflet (in Dutch) is available with practical tips on how you can help students with disabilities to become less likely to get stuck and to be more successful during their studies.
Do you want to start, change or stop a new study programme or specialization? Please take into account the protocol (in Dutch) that applies here. On this page you can find more information about the VU education policy (e.g. the guideline for Bachelor's and Master's programmes, and the Minors policy).
On the Accreditatie/visitation (in Dutch) page, you will find more information about accreditation, visitation and mid-term review.
See also the other VU regulations (in Dutch).
Also available on VU.nl: important regulations for students, including the Regulations for the protection of personal data.

Committees, boards and representative bodies

The Faculty board is responsible for the organisation and coordination of education and research in the faculty.
The Sub-Committee (ODC) exercises personnel participation at a decentralized level. The sub-committees of the faculties and services are formally committees of the Staff Council.
Together with the Faculty Student Councils, the Faculty ODCs form the Faculty Joint Meeting (GV).
The composition and operation of the Examination Board, and the Rules and Guidelines of the Examination Board Bachelor and Master.
The Programme Committee (OC) is an advisory body where teachers and students together contribute to the improvement of the quality and content of education. For example, the OC advises on the study programme or the study load of subjects and on the content of the Teaching and Examination Regulations (TER).