The School of Business in Amsterdam University, Netherlands, has come under criticism for “devaluing” bachelor degrees from Africa, apart from South Africa and Ghana.
The school recently said a Bachelor’s degree from an African country “is not enough to secure admissions for its Master’s degree programme”.
For eligibility, applicants with an African bachelor’s degree (except for South-Africa and Ghana) will need a bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in the field of economics and business, an information on its web page read.
“Information for students with an African bachelor’s degree. An African bachelor’s degree is generally the equivalent of 2 years of academic education in the Netherlands.”
The controversial requirement has been tagged discriminatory and an attempt to undermine the capabilities and potentials of Africans in academics.
A Nigerian and former assistant professor at the university, Michael Eze, described the usage of “African Degree” as an abuse of the African pedigree.
An assistant professor in international relations and conflict resolution and governance in Amsterdam University, Polly Pallister-Wilkins, also called out the school on Twitter.
However, Marja Meer, a spokesperson of the school said that the information on the school’s website was incorrect, then apologised for the ‘inaccuracies’.
“Thank you for bringing to our attention that there are inaccuracies on our master’s programme website. The information that is currently there, is indeed incorrect. We deeply regret this and will amend it as soon as possible,” Ms Meer said in response to the email enquiry.
Meanwhile, in the amended version of the information on its website, the school gave an explanation on how a bachelor’s degree obtained in certain African countries differs but did not rescind its earlier stance.
The only difference, when compared to the previous post, is that the school failed to name specific African countries whose Bachelor’s degrees guarantee a direct entry to its programme.
While it explained the major difference between the Dutch system of higher education and other international systems of higher education, it was silent on the superiority of some “African degrees”.
“The most important difference is that in the Netherlands we uphold a difference between a university of applied sciences and a research university, like the University of Amsterdam.
“In order to be eligible for an academic master’s degree at our research university (the majority are one-year Master programmes), all students, both Dutch and international, need to have completed an academic bachelor’s degree from a research university.
“In general, although this differs per country, a bachelor’s degree obtained in certain countries on the African continent does give direct entry to a programme at the Amsterdam University of Applied Science.
“However, depending per country, a completed bachelor’s degree (with the exception of some countries where they offer 5- or 6- year bachelor’s degrees) does not give direct entry to one of our academic Master programmes at our research university. Usually, an additional completed master’s degree in the field of economics and/or business is needed for direct entry,” it said.
For further clarifications, the school advised prospective applicants “to consult the country specific details on Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education in the Netherlands”.
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