Zijlstra komt masterstudenten tegemoet

Name: Alexandra ‘Sasha’ Karmanova (aerospace engineering)
Brand: Sym Mio
Price: 1,500 euros
Striking feature: Scratches all over from heroic falls

“All my friends tell me I’m ridiculously lazy for riding a scooter instead of a bike, although I know that they secretly like it, and never say ‘no’ to a ride on the back of the ‘Sasha mobile’, as they call it. With a scooter you can go anywhere quickly without arriving all sweaty and out of breath: you just sit back, relax and it does the job for you. And so far it’s saved more backs than just mine. Once I was riding through the campus and a desperate-looking girl waved me down. She was almost late to her presentation and had no idea where to find the correct faculty, as it was her first time on campus. I offered her a ride and we were there in no time. It saved her presentation and earned me some eternal gratitude. I bet if I was a guy I could have scored her number as well. Besides random strangers, I sometimes give lifts to friends after parties, and they don’t hesitate to show their ‘love’. Once, after leaving a party, I found my scooter had magically transformed into a wad of yellow pedestrian-caution tape, complete with a huge bow on top. It took ages to get the tape off, and when I finally got home I received an email with a pic of two of my friends sitting on the ‘gift-wrapped’ scooter with huge grins on their faces. That’s what friends are for! It turns out this type of scooter is quite popular in Delft. Once, coming out of Ikea, I noticed a guy trying to force the lock on my scooter with his key. I just watched him struggle in frustration for a few minutes before offering, ‘Mind if I try it with my key?’ He was speechless for a moment, before noticing his identical scooter parked nearby. We both had a good laugh about it.”

De bewindsman zei dit donderdagochtend in de Studentenkamer, het halfjaarlijkse overleg met studentenorganisaties ISO en LSVb. Veel meer wilde hij er niet over kwijt.

De overgangsregeling zou bijvoorbeeld kunnen gaan gelden voor studenten die in september 2010 aan hun driejarige masteropleiding geneeskunde begonnen. Zij mochten er toen vanuit gaan dat zij drie jaar lang een basisbeurs zouden ontvangen. Zijlstra’s voorstel voor een sociaal leenstelsel in de masterfase werd pas in het najaar van 2010 bekend.

Maar ook studenten aan tweejarige bèta- of researchmasters die dit collegejaar begonnen vallen mogelijk onder de regeling. Zij zouden hun basisbeurs anders halverwege de rit verliezen.

De Raad van State heeft het kabinet gisteren geadviseerd over het wetsvoorstel waarin de invoering van dit leenstelsel en het inkorten van het ov-recht worden geregeld. Binnenkort gaat dat advies naar de Tweede Kamer.