UvA panel

Student Services and the Communications Office (BC) wanted to learn how students experience the University of Amsterdam’s communication about ‘Studying with a disability.’

To explore this, two focus groups were held with a total of eight students*. To ensure accessibility for all participants, students could choose to participate in either an online or an in-person session. The students shared valuable suggestions, which are summarised below by topic:

Terminology

• Because there are so many different types of disabilities, it’s difficult to use one overarching term:
  • Students with conditions such as ADHD, autism, or dyslexia felt more addressed by a heading like ‘Studying with a chronic (mental) illness or neurodivergence.’
  • Include a clear explanation of what is meant by neurodivergence.
  • Keep this in mind in future communication, and consider adding this heading alongside the current one, ‘Studying with a disability.’
• The common thread among all students is that they are looking for support during their studies. This could also be reflected in the website structure, for example: ‘Support for those with chronic (mental) illness and/or neurodivergence.’

Tone of voice

• Students prefer an active and inclusive tone from the UvA; one that openly welcomes students with any kind of condition (physical and mental) and focuses on the available support options.

Visuals

• Visual materials should preferably be general, as students with neurodivergence do not see themselves as ‘different’ or ‘special.’
• However, students emphasised the importance of using diverse imagery across the entire UvA website.

Contact

• Students would prefer to indicate once - at the start of their studies - that they have a disability, and then receive targeted information relevant to their situation.
• They also expressed a need for a central contact point where students can go both in person (at REC or the University Library) and online, at accessible times and without long waiting periods.
• In addition, students value approachable, empathetic contact persons.

Next steps

The results of this study will be used by Student Services and the Communications Office as part of the communication improvement project launched under ‘Studying with a disability’. The goal is to establish a single digital contact point for students by 1 August 2026.

* Of the eight students who took part in the focus groups, only one had a physical disability. Therefore, the findings primarily reflect the perspectives of students with non-physical disabilities and/or neurodivergence.

Commissioned by Student Services (StS), UvA Panel investigated how prospective students experience the transition to university. For many prospective students, the soft landing period (the first 100 days after enrolment) is their first real introduction to the UvA and is therefore an important calling card: do students feel welcome and supported in their transition to university? 

For this study, four surveys are conducted during the soft landing period, which will be followed up in November 2025 with a co-creation session. The first three surveys were conducted the run-up to the academic year, between June and September. The focus for these surveys was placed mostly on the preparations and the information provision. The fourth and last survey focused on the end of the Soft Landing period, namely the start of the academic year and the academic and social integration.

A total of 284 students participated in the fourth survey, of whom 36% were Dutch, 39% were international students from within the EU, and 25% were international students from outside the EU.

The results show the following:

• 78% of students feel that they have been well supported by the UvA since the start of their studies on the topic of ‘Timetables and course registration’. Additionally, 74% experience good guidance regarding expectations about the content of their study programme. In previous measurements, however, students indicated that they experienced a lack of support in these areas.
• Canvas is the preferred channel for information (81%), followed by the website (65%) and the MyUvA app (35%).
• The completeness of the information provision since the start of the academic year has been ranked higher (7,36) than before the start of the year (7,01).  The clarity of the information provision since the start of the academic year has also been ranked higher (7,43) than before the start (7,00).
• The majority of respondents (63%) are satisfied with the amount of contact they have with fellow students. Slightly less than half (44%) believe that the UvA has sufficiently helped them in making social connections. 29% is neutral on this.
• 43% of students have become a member of an association. They mainly joined their association through fellow students and/or friends (45%), via the study introduction (42%), or through Intreeweek (26%).
• The 57% who have not joined give various reasons for this, such as focusing on their studies (42%), settling down first (34%), or not having found a suitable association yet (27%), etc.
• 84% of students has a clear idea of what it entails to study at university
• The UvA receives a 6,8 from students on preparation for student life and a 7,9 on how welcome the students feel.

The results of all four questionnaires will guide a concluding co-creation session, in which we will work with StS and BC to take a closer look at the needs of students throughout the soft landing process: how can we better respond to perceived bottlenecks and where can information, expectation management and support be further tailored to make the transition to university as pleasant as possible?

Commissioned by Student Services (StS), UvA Panel investigated how prospective students experience the transition to university. For many prospective students, the soft landing period (the first 100 days after enrolment) is their first real introduction to the UvA and is therefore an important calling card: do students feel welcome and supported in their transition to university? 

For this study, four surveys are conducted during the soft landing period, followed by a focus group. Three surveys have been conducted so far, in which almost 2000 students participated.

The results of the various surveys largely correspond. However, a number of differences can be identified:

• Satisfaction with contact: in August, satisfaction with the frequency of contact with the UvA increased slightly compared to June.
• Information-seeking behaviour: In August, students were more active in seeking information through various channels (information events, social media, Service Desk).
• Information about immigration was more often rated as clear in August.
• Statements about feeling prepared for the new academic year varied slightly across the different measurement moments. However, the differences were minor.
• There is a shift in the most important information about the start of the academic year: from a broad spread across the five themes (timetable and courses, study materials, admission, housing and meeting others) in June to a more specific focus on timetable and courses, study materials and meeting others in August and September.
• Missing information: in August, more students indicate that they are still missing information, but they mention fewer different topics than in June. In September, both the percentage of students who are missing something and the number of topics about which they are missing information are significantly lower.

In general, prospective students are fairly positive about the information provided in the run-up to the new academic year. However, there is room for improvement in terms of clarity, expectation management and consistency.

Recommendations from the UvA panel for the soft landing process:

• Give students clear insight into their progress: what do they still need to do and how far are they in the process?
• Provide a continuous overview of current and upcoming steps.
• Improve consistency/clarity in communication and information sources.

Student Services and the Communications Office will use these results to improve the soft landing process and to prepare the latest survey (focusing on the start of the academic year until the end of the first block) and the concluding focus group (co-creation with students).

The Faculty of Science (FNWI) was interested in hearing students’ opinions about a new tool in development, ‘Thesis Workflow’. This tool will be built for the whole UvA.

Five students participated in the user tests, which were conducted by the development team of FNWI itself. Participant recruitment was handled by the UvA panel.

The user tests revealed several positive aspects, such as the presence of a progress bar, reminder emails, and the clear overview of deadlines. Students also mentioned a number of areas for improvement.

General

• Approved sections should be collapsed but clickable if students want to view them
• Job titles should be immediately clear
• The word 'Deadlines' does not fit all degree programmes (suggest replacing it with 'Target Date')

Emails

• The tone in emails for small changes can be overly empathetic
• Button text should be clearer
• No emails if no action is required
• Add 'approximately' or 'on average' before the number of days mentioned
• Avoid using too many emoji
• Add an email notification if the supervisor is late

Topic/Proposal

• Display received feedback higher up on the page
• The combination of ‘continue’ and ‘submit’ buttons can be confusing
• Allow a preview of the summary before submission
• Add an extra text field for the supervisor (e.g. for grading comments)

Final Version

• Emphasise the text 'no changes' in pop-ups by using bold text
• Make documents clickable in the review pop-up

Final Grade

• The message about 'passing' is not always accurate

The development team will incorporate these results and areas for improvement into the further refinement of the new tool. In addition, the FNWI development team and the UvA panel will jointly organise a co-creation session in which the 'flow' will be further elaborated and zooms in more deeply on needs and experiences in specific steps of the process.

This study was conducted by the Master Admissions in SIS (MAIS) Project Team. Participants were recruited via the UvA panel.

Purpose of the meeting

As of 1 October 2025, all Master's applications for the FdR, FGw and FMG – with the exception of the ILO – will be processed via the SIS application system. The other faculties (FEB, FNWI, FGk and AUC) will follow suit on 1 October 2026. From that moment on, all Bachelor's and Master's applications will be processed via SIS.

Because students are an important user group, it was decided to present the system to a select group of students. The aim was to gather feedback on the user-friendliness of the system and to gain insight into what works well and what could be improved.

Research design and target group

Five students tested the new application system in two sessions of two hours each. They carried out test applications in the new system. During these sessions, the core team observed the process. Afterwards, the experiences were jointly evaluated and discussed. In addition, the draft emails that students receive during the application process were also presented to the panel.

Insights gained:

•    Positive findings from students:

•    The system looks neat and professional;

•    It is clear what is expected of the student;

•    The ability to track the status of the application via a track-and-trace function is considered a pleasant feature.

Improvements:

• The current track-and-trace functionality was not clear enough. The panel contributed ideas for an improved design.

• The tone of the emails was perceived as too informal; students preferred a more businesslike approach.

Next steps

The feedback received will be incorporated into the further development of the system. In addition, consideration is being given to involving the UvA panel again, specifically to test the modified emails.