Examencommissie Natuurkunde

The Board of Examiners is responsible for the inherent quality of both the BSc and the MSc degrees in Physics. It ensures that the content of the courses offered is at the appropriate level, by

a) Guaranteeing the quality of exams and degrees,
b) Guaranteeing the quality of all procedure concerning exams, graded projects and degrees,
c) Determining the rules within the OER that concerns the evaluation of the exam-results, including the pass/fail level.

The Board also vouchsafes that each student has made the appropriate amount of knowledge its own by

d) Approving the study-plan of courses that constitutes a degree. In particular approving an appropriate final thesis.
e) Approving a waiver for exams or graded projects, in case this knowledge was already gained elsewhere.
f) Taking appropriate measures in case of fraud, or cheating.
g) Determining the Compulsory Continuing Study Recommendation (BSA) at the end of the first year of the BSc.

In many of these tasks the committee is aided in this tasks by the study advisor. 

The formal role and responsibilities of the Board of Examiners are set forth in the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Examiners.
In practical terms requests and interactions with the Board of Examiners either concern Changes in Study Plan, Final Steps towards the degree, or Cases of Fraud.

Changes in your study plan

Students who wish to make changes to their study plan for which permission of the Board of Examiners is required, should in all cases, discuss this first with the Study Adviser, and agree on a new study plan. Only afterwards, can one submit a request to the Board of Examiners and a subsequent request in uSis.

Examples are:

• Conduct their thesis-research at another institution than the Physics Department/LION at Leiden University.
• Request a waiver/exemption for a course taken elsewhere.
• Allow courses that are not offered by the Physics Department to count towards the degree/Transfer of credits from another institution/study.
• Exempt the student from a course requirement by taking a different course.

After consulting with the Study Advisor, the student can submit the request with this FORM

Final steps towards your degree

Students may request the Board of Examiners to review the evaluation of the degree results regarding its (summa) cum laude judicium (please review the guidelines in the OER), or a delay in graduation to complete more courses.

Requests for such reviews can be submitted with this FORM

Judgements in case of fraud /BSA/ Grading disputes 

Fraud and Plagiarism: Any case of fraud of plagiarism is in all cases immediately to be reported to the Board of Examiners. The Board will investigate and determine the appropriate course of action which can include deregistering from the course, an exclusion from certain parts of the program for up to a year,  or a deregistration from  the whole study.

BSA: The Board of Examiners determines the BSA, but is not the body that considers appeals against this judgement. Appeals against a BSA decision are to be sent to Examination Appeals Board.

Grading disputes: If a sincere grading dispute arises that cannot be resolved between the student and the instructor amongst themselves, it is possible to appeal to the Board of Examiners. Submit a well-reasoned, motivated appeal with supporting documents to boardofexaminers@physics.leidenuniv.nl.

Students may appeal the decisions of Board of Examiners with the Examination Appeals Board. 

The study-advisor Physics can be contacted at studyadvisor@physics.leidenuniv.nl

The Board of Examiners can be contacted at boardofexaminers@physics.leidenuniv.nl

The current Board of Examiners consists of: 
Prof. dr. K.E. Schalm (chair)
Dr. D.J. Kraft
Dr. S.W.H.  Eijt (Delft)
Dr. D.F.E. Samtleben
Dr. A. Silvestri

The study advisor is Dr. H. Papathanassiou