Binding recommendation for continuation of Studies (BSR)

First-year bachelor students who enroll in the major Industrial Design for the first time receive a binding study recommendation (BSR) after one year of study. The Examination Committee ID (EC ID) issues the binding study recommendation based on the credits obtained after one year.

You can either receive a positive or a negative BSR. A positive recommendation will be issued if you have obtained at least 45 ects during your first year. 

You are only able to continue your program at our department after receiving a positive study recommendation after one year of study. A negative binding study recommendation means you cannot continue your ID program and you will not be able to enroll in the Industrial Design program at TU/e for a further three years. 

Please note: these regulations only apply to bachelor students. Pre-master students should check this page for more information on their binding study recommendation. 

Please find the timeline for the BSR here. The TU/e general regulations on BSR can be found here.

Every first-year student will receive preliminary advice after one semester. This advice is based on the credits received after one semester and will be issued in February.

Positive preliminary advice is issued if you have received at least 25 credits after one semester. A negative preliminary advice will be issued if you have received less than 25 credits after one semester.

This advice has no consequences, but it gives you an indication of your study progress.

If personal circumstances affect your study in a negative way you’ll need to report this to your academic advisor within 20 working days of the occurrence. Examples of personal circumstances could be illness, functional disorders, pregnancy, and family circumstances. You should discuss your circumstances with your academic advisor who will try to support and help you. She may advise you to contact a student advisor or a student psychologist at ESA (Education and Student Affairs).

In some cases a binding study recommendation can be postponed. Since the binding study recommendation has serious consequences for you, you’ll need to follow an official procedure to have your BSR postponed.  

This procedure is started by reporting your personal circumstances to the academic advisor within 20 working days of the occurrence (before June 1st if possible). Directly after your meeting with the academic advisor, you should arrange a meeting with the student dean/counselor of ESA. You need to write and submit a BSR postponement request after receiving the first BSR intention for negative advice, if you did not succeed in achieving 45 ECTS. You also need to indicate whether you would like a hearing to take place. You need to submit this objection within one week of receiving the letter from the Examination Committee (EC ID) with the intention for negative advice. Based on the advice of the student dean/counselor, the EC ID will decide if they will acknowledge your personal circumstances and therefore postpone your BSR. If they decide to do so, they will postpone your BSR for one year.

In case you have received a final negative BSR and you do not agree with this and there are no personal circumstances involved, then you can file an appeal to the Examination Appeals board. More information can be found here.

Depending on your questions you may be provided with support from your teacher coach or your academic advisor. Your teacher coach can support you in your overall competence of design, in your competency development, and in your growth as a designer. You can consult your academic advisor about issues affecting your study progress, academic achievement or study planning. Furthermore, you could talk to one of the ESA student advisors. If you would like to follow a workshop on study planning or if you would like to talk to a student psychologist, please contact ESA.

You can find the contact information of the academic advisor, ESA and the ID Examination committee on the Contact page.

For your reference, you can also use the BSR/Plan Your Program presentation in the Forms and Files section as information source for this subject.

If you are considering ending your studies at Industrial Design, you should contact your academic advisor. If you have already decided to stop, you should inform your teacher coach, your fellow students, the educational office and your academic advisor. After that, cancel your enrollment as soon as possible (contact ESA). If you cancel your enrollment before the 1st of March you will not receive a binding study recommendation.