Student assistant

Employment contract according to the Collective Labour Agreement

• Conditions

  A student can be appointed as a student assistant under the following conditions: 

  1. The student is registered at a Dutch research university. Students who have a valid registration at a Dutch research university can be offered the position of student assistant. This does not need to be VU Amsterdam; students from other Dutch research universities are also eligible. However, university of applied sciences )HBO) or secondary vocational students (MBO) cannot be appointed student assistants. 
  2. This is because student assistants contribute to academic education or research. The responsibilities of a student assistant are generally largely focused on supporting academic education and research.  
     
     or 
  3. The student assistant can also be used to perform non-structural tasks and operational tasks. 

  If conditions 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 are satisfied, then an employment contract can be entered into with the student as a student assistant. The student assistant is entered via the Start onboarding new internal employee  self-service option. 

  The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities applies to the employment contract. However, a number of articles are not included, in accordance with Chapter 10, paragraph 1.

• Duration of employment contract

  The number of hours and total duration of the employment contract with student assistants may differ. 

  • For an employment contract with a student assistant who contributes to academic education or research (Collective Labour Agreement article 10.1(2)) no limitations apply with regard to the number of subsequent employment contracts or the total duration. 
  • The employment contract with a student assistant who is required to perform non-structural tasks and operational tasks (Collective Labour Agreement article 10.1(3)) may be extended no more than twice with a temporary employment contract, in which the total duration of the subsequent employment contracts may not exceed 36 months. 
    So if the student assistant has received 3 subsequent contracts within 3 years, or if the student assistant has had multiple temporary contracts over the course of 3 years, then no further extensions are possible and the supervisor will have to terminate the student assistant’s employment contract by operation of law at that time.

• Scope of employment contract

  Calculated over a period of 12 months, the guideline states that the scope of a student assistant’s employment contract may not exceed more than 0.4 FTE on average. This is to protect the student as they should have enough time to complete their own study activities.

  As a result, too many holiday leave hours may be used via the Individual  choices model. In general, a student assistant has a short-term employment contract and/or a low working time factor and therefore have significantly less time as a resource at their disposal. As a result, settlement must take place, because if holiday leave hours are used that one does not accrue, then working conditions are enjoyed to which there is no entitlement. Settlement must then take place at the end of the student assistantship.

• Salary

  Separate salary scales apply to student assistants depending on the number of credits (according to the European credit transfer system ECTS) that the student has earned on commencing the employment contract. There are three categories of number of credits that correspond with the three salary scales. 

  The salary scales are 101, 102 and 103. These correspond to the number of credits, specifically 60+ ECTS credits for scale 101, 120+ ECTS credits for scale 102 and 180+ ECTS credits or the Master’s phase for scale 103. As shown in the table below:

  Student assistant scale	Category of number of credits
  Scale 101	60+ ECTS credits
  Scale 102	120+ ECTS credits
  Scale 103	180+ ECTS credits or Master's phase.

  In the event that the student assistant is offered an extension after the employment contract has ended, then the number of credits may also have increased by that time, meaning that a higher category of ‘number of credits’ is reached. At the time of extension, the student assistant is entitled to the corresponding higher scale. Following consultations with the supervisor, the student assistant is responsible for entering both the extension and the changed salary scale via the Change employment contract self-service option.

  There is one exception, which applies to student assistants whose employment contract continues after 1 September and for whom the number of credits will fall into a higher category as of 1 September. Such students are entitled to the corresponding higher scale as of 1 September. Following consultation with the supervisor, the student assistant is responsible for entering the changed salary scale via the Change employment contract self-service option. 

• Termination of employment contract

  The employment contract ends on the agreed end date by operation of law.
  
  The employment contract will also end as of the first day after the month in which the student assistant loses their student status; either as a result of graduation or because they have terminated their registration at a Dutch research university. The student assistant is responsible for reporting to their supervisor that their registration has been terminated. The supervisor will then terminate the employment contract of the student assistant, stating as the reason that the employment contract has ended by operation of law. 

• Commuting allowance, working-from-home and internet allowances

  The Collective Labour Agreement contains agreements regarding the facilitation of hybrid working. However, only permanent employees receive allowances for working from home and internet, while on-call employees, student assistants, freelancers, PhD grant recipients without an employment contract and trainees receive no compensation. 

  The assumption is that the student assistant is a student who already has a student travel product in the form of a weekly travel pass, which obviates any entitlement to the commuting allowance. After all, they already have access to free public transport. 

  Students with a weekend travel pass, students without a student travel product and students with a weekly travel pass who receive a discount for the summer months (40% for the train and 34% for tram, bus, metro and water bus) are entitled to reimbursement of any essential travel expenses. In such cases, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam reimburses 65% of the actually incurred commuting expenses. Students are responsible for submitting the claims for travel expenses incurred. Claims must include the expense overview of their public transport transactions. This can be retrieved for both the OV chip card and for OV pay (checking in and out with contactless debit card, credit card or mobile). 

  Example: 

  • If the journey (commute) without a transport pass or discount product (100%) costs €10, then the reimbursement is €6.50. 
  • If the journey (commute) using a discount product (-40%) costs €6, then the reimbursement is €3.90. Please note: the cost of purchasing a discount card is not eligible for reimbursement. 

  If the student assistant would like to make use of facilities for working from home (such as IT equipment, desk, desk lamp), then they should discuss this with their supervisor.

• ABP Pension

  The student assistant will be registered with our pension fund (Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP), which administers the pension scheme that applies to this employee. Pension contributions are accordingly deducted from salary payments.

• Holidays

  The student assistant accrues holiday leave monthly, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement. The amount of this accrual depends on the FTE and the chosen use of flexible working hours, as indicated in Appendix G of the Collective Labour Agreement.

• Illness

  In the case of illness, the student assistant should observe the regulations in place at VU Amsterdam regarding illness, and the regulations contained in the Gatekeeper Improvement Act regarding reporting sick/recovery and monitoring.

• Intellectual property

  VU Amsterdam is entitled to knowledge and intellectual property rights, except for the copyright on academic publications and books produced. 

  The current VU Amsterdam Knowledge Exploitation Regulations will then apply to the student. 

• International student-assistants

  International students can also be appointed student assistants at VU Amsterdam. Different rules apply to international students, however. For more information, please visit the Employment of new international staff page. 

Role and quality requirements of student assistant in education

• Introduction

  Student assistants are employed within the university to participate in the education provided by VU Amsterdam. They are increasingly regarded as co-designers and/or teachers, thereby sharing responsibility for the quality of VU Amsterdam education. In this light, a student assistant is expected to actively contribute to a positive learning culture and the quality of education and possess the substantive and didactic knowledge needed to teach or supervise fellow students. To be employed in teaching, the student assistant must always have a higher level of competence than fellow students and a good command of the subject matter.

  The deployment of student assistants should be organised in a simple and flexible way, taking into account their temporary availability during their own studies. Bureaucratic obstacles or additional requirements that would prevent their efficient deployment should be avoided.

• Profile and selection

  • The student assistant is enrolled at VU Amsterdam or another university as a student and is at least a 2nd-year bachelor's or master's studen
  • The student assistant may be subject to further requirements regarding study progress and the average mark obtained for all subjects, partly to determine the level of competence
  • The student assistant should at least have affinity with teaching
  • The student assistant must have distinguished themselves in the relevant domain in which they wish to teach as a student assistant, to be assessed by the programme director or teacher
  • The student assistant has relatively recently studied the lesson material they are assigned to
  • The language skills of the student assistant are up to standard with regard to the instruction language of the study programme

• Governance

  A student assistant performs work under the direction and responsibility of a lecturer or examiner responsible for the unit of study

• Tasks

  A student assistant can be deployed for the following tasks:

  • support (e.g. arrangement of groups, etc.) for teaching offered within a bachelor’s programme, within a premaster programme and within a master programme
  • giving instructions and supervising self-study
  • teaching workgroups in a bachelor’s programme (if the student assistant is a senior)
  • supporting a lecturer in preparing lectures (e.g. developing teaching materials), practicals and laboratory work
  • performing tasks to support (digital) assessments
  • (assisting in) the grading of (partial) tests and assignments, with final responsibility for this resting with the examiner who also awards the final mark
  • acting as a mentor or tutor
  • helping to prepare and instruct new student assistants

• Training and guidance

  • The student assistant will receive substantive training under the responsibility of the lecturer
  • If required and relevant, the student assistant follows a didactic training course at the Centre for Teaching & Learning, possibly leading to a qualification
  • The student assistant will personally consult with the lecturer at least twice, at least once in the interim and once after the teaching assignment is completed (evaluation)
  • The student assistant will receive feedback on their teaching activities for the purpose of evaluation
  • The student assistant should ensure that their efforts as a student assistant are not at the expense of their own study progress. The academic advisor may have an advisory role in this regard. This also falls under the personal responsibility of the student assistant.
  • The student assistant performs assessment tasks in accordance with a protocol

• Restrictions regarding the deployability

  The following restrictions apply regarding the deployability of student assistants:

  • are not deployable for surveillance during final exams
  • cannot be deployable for grade processing
  • do not have access to the final examination and corresponding answer templates before it is taken
  • cannot be deployed for assessment and grading of final papers
  • cannot be deployed to review the work of fellow students known to them
  • may not be used in education/courses they are personally taking or will take (compulsory elements in their own programme)
  • are not involved in the evaluation of fellow students

Are you looking for information on these topics too?