Using Groups to Change the Department Head Role: An organization development case

This article presents a case study of selection for graduate study at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) in the Netherlands. The VU developed and implemented an assessment instrument for students with a vocational Bachelor degree wishing to pursue a Master’s programme at the university. This instrument is new in the egalitarian higher education culture of the Netherlands. It focuses on the differences between higher vocational and academic education and makes them measurable. The article will focus on some aspects of the implementation process, the results of the first round of evaluation and on implications for Dutch and other universities.