New schedule: TU/e wants to get more out of lecture halls

Although twelve hours sounds longer than the current 10-hour model, it is actually intended to prevent lectures from being held in the evening. The model received the green light from the TU/e Executive Board at the beginning of this academic year.

The model is tentatively scheduled to be introduced in the 2028-2029 academic year. Over the coming years, students, lecturers and other stakeholders will be able to contribute ideas about how the model should be implemented.

12-hour model

Research by the Future Proof Scheduling (FPS) project team into suitable solutions for the shortage of lecture hall space found that the 12-hour model performed best. This means that twelve lecture hours will be available each day for scheduling education. A lecture hour currently lasts 40 to 45 minutes.

To develop the model, the project team will consult with all stakeholders. “We’ll discuss the options with them and see what solutions are available. Then we’ll look at what has the most support and what is most realistic,” says Elmer Sachteleben, a member of the FPS project team and ESA manager for Mathematics and Computer Science.

Shorter lecture hours

One possible way to prevent lectures from being held in the evening is to shorten lecture hours, provided this does not come at the expense of the quality of education. Breaks and the time needed to move between lecture hours could potentially also be shortened. Starting classes earlier could likewise create additional time.

“We think we can implement the 12-hour model effectively within daytime hours,” says Jorg de Jong, team leader of both the examination organization and the scheduling department, and a member of the FPS project team.

“If there is no room within education to make adjustments to start, end, break and lecture times, then the remaining option is to introduce a 12-hour model that also makes use of the evening hours.”

Sustainable

Although additional teaching space is currently being built, simply constructing more lecture halls is not the future-proof solution the university currently needs. “The university is growing by hundreds of students every year. You can hardly keep building to keep up with that,” De Jong says.

Building more space is also not sustainable. “If it is decided now to stop holding large lectures and only work in groups, then you would have to divide such a large hall into ten smaller rooms,” De Jong says by way of example. “Developments in education are moving so quickly that a static building has difficulty keeping up.”

Introduction

The fact that the scheduling model is not scheduled to be introduced until the 2028-2029 academic year is not only related to the discussions the FPS project team needs to have with stakeholders. The team is also taking lecturers into account, as they will have to adapt their classes if lecture hours are shortened.

In addition, the team wants to improve coordination among all departments regarding who offers education, when and why. These choices are recorded in the curricula, which are developed during the final two months of the calendar year.

University-wide planning

To facilitate this coordination, the project team wants to introduce university-wide curriculum management. This will give departments better insight into each other’s education planning, making it possible to better coordinate educational activities.

Ultimately, this should also help with lecture hall allocation, as multiple departments will no longer request the same lecture halls at the same time. “We’re giving ourselves two years. Because time flies when you’re thinking in terms of an academic year,” says Sachteleben. 

However, the destination is clear: “A new schedule model, so you can actually go to your sports club and actually be with your children.”