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Absurd study programme after credit transfer

Will become a biologist with a specialty in theatre sciences - against her better judgement

The Danish study progress reform is designed to speed up tardy students. But it is leading to some strange CVs. This is after the reform’s obligatory credit [Danish: tvangsmerit, ed.] system is forcing students to have subjects credited that have absolutely no relevance to their studies, according to Danish-language site and other media.

One Ditte Staffeldt from the University of Copenhagen has been forced to have her one year of theatre science credited after changing study programme to biology. Result: A biologist with a specialty in theatre science.

This is nonsense, according to the Danish students union DSF to the newspaper Information and Ritzau. “A case like this is a clear example of how the study progress reform is directly removing our ability to educate ourselves for the better,” says Yasmin Davali, chairman of DSF, in a press release.

New rule forces you to transfer credits

The problem will only get bigger because the scheme so far has only hit students who started their studies last summer.

“This is not the only example I have heard about. We have seen more and more absurd cases of students getting credits for irrelevant subjects being forced upon them, and being squeezed in an attempt to get a good education.”

Before Ditte Staffeldt started her biology programme she had carried out two semesters in theatre science, corresponding to 60 ECTS points in the European Credit Transfer System.

Aim is to speed up students

She has been subsequently forced to transfer these credits, with the reasoning that the relevance of the subject has nothing to do with it, according to the Danish-language news site Uniavisen.dk.

“I will become a biologist with a specialty in theatre sciences. What on earth am I going to use that for? I have not started my education to avoid learning something, but because I find it interesting, and hope to gain as much knowledge as possible about my subject. Now I will gain less knowledge about biology than my fellow students, and write fewer relevant subjects on my CV,” says a disappointed Ditte Staffeldt.

While the goal of the so-called study progress reform is to get the – by international standards slower – students to complete their education and enter the labour market more quickly, the students believe that this objective has not been reached.

Devastating for education

Education Minister, Sofie Carsten Nielsen (R), continues to defend the recent study reform despite accusations that it is destructive to the educational system, writes Seven59.dk and Information.

“I think it is scary to see a minister who so consistently refuses to respond to the warnings she gets from the entire sector,” says Yasmin Davali, Danish Students Union president.

“There is no doubt that the reform is going to have devastating consequences for our education.”

Minister: Organise your studies differently

The student union says it is impossible to engage in constructive dialogue with the education minister when she continues to firmly hold her position on the education reform.

Minister of Education of Sofie Carsten Nielsen will have none of it.

“I stand by our demands on the education programmes and that the students should organise their studies a little differently.”

miy@adm.ku.dk

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