“Mechanical Engineering has been at the top of the ‘Elsevier’ list for a number of years”, says Corinne Talen, who is deputizing for TU/e education director De Kraker. “We see a slightly increasing trend in applications, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with this high rating. Students mainly base their choice on geographical location. The differences in the ‘Elsevier’ survey are usually not so great, and students regard the traveling distance, as well as the atmosphere on open days, as more important in making their choice.”

The analysis compared the student ratings in ‘Elsevier’ magazine for the past six years with the numbers of new students entering the universities each year. For most universities there was no link between the ratings and new student numbers. Only TU/e, TU Delft and the University of Utrecht appeared to benefit slightly from higher ratings.

If only that was the case, says education director Alex van Herk of the Chemical Engineering and Chemistry department. In his view, a high rating in student evaluations doesn’t make such a big difference. “In 2006 the higher education selection guide rated our Chemical Engineering and Chemistry department as offering the best technology program in the Netherlands. And based on student ratings we’re usually in the top three”, says Van Herk. “With around 65 applications a year we often have the highest score of all chemistry or chemical engineering departments in the Netherlands. But we still think that number is too low. We’re aiming for 100 first-year students.”

The researchers who carried out the analysis speculate that varying the tuition fees could change the number of applications. But according to Van Herk, reducing tuition fees is only an option if all programs do the same. /.