Student Council: Let us hear your merger ideas

So far, little is known about how the faculty merger will affect the courses at the University of Copenhagen. This gives students the chance to influence the process, suggests the Chairman of the Student Council, Ea Busch-Petersen, as reported on our Danish-language section Universitetsavisen.

About 30 students met in the Studenterhuset Tuesday to discuss the controversial faculty merger plan that was presented last week by Rector and the deans.

The plan to merge the faculties of Science and Life Sciences; Pharma and Health Science, is so detailed, and has to be prepared in such a short amount of time – three months – that some students and staff have feared that they will be bulldozed in the hearing process.

Chance to change for the better

»This is serious stuff. And it’s an uphill struggle,« said Laura Toftegaard Pedersen, a student member of the university board.

But overturning the current structure isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Deputy chairman of the Student Council, Bjarke Lindemann Jepsen, suggested a positive outlook:

»We have to remember that this is an opportunity to do away with some bad things«.

To present ideas for the Board

The Student Council, which had set up the meeting, warned that it is unlikely that students can affect whether or not the merger will happen at this stage. But they still encouraged students to voice their ideas, so they can steer things in the right direction, the Universitetsavisen reports.

The purpose of the Student Council brainstorm was to get concrete suggestions to present to the Board of the university.

»I think this is a bloody great idea. We just have to get to work – this can be really good,« one student said.

uni-avis@adm.ku.dk

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