The Definitive Guide to Study Progress Reform. How will the speed-up affect you?

(Editor’s update December 2013. The study progress reform has been delayed one year, so it first takes effect from 2014. The reform when it takes place may differ in details from what is described below.)

We have already reported on the so-called speed-up reforms since it was made official, but the reform’s terms are raising more questions.

The Danish-language university news site Uniavisen.dk asked Anni Søborg, Vice Director for Education at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), for answers that can help you know how exactly the reform affects you. We have taken the best bits and compiled them into the following guide:

What are the most apparent consequences for students?

• From now on, UCPH will require students to pass modules worth at least 45 ECTS per year.
• Students have to sign up to modules and exams for 30 ECTS points per semester (you will have fulfilled the 30 ECTS requirement, whether you pass all of your modules or not).
• Bachelor students can take just one semester’s leave without reasons given (current students can take up to 12 months’ leave without reasons given).
• Students doing their Master’s will no longer have this option at all.
• You can only defer a module or an exam or take leave due to paternity/maternity leave, adoption, conscription, illness or other ‘special circumstances’.
• If you do not pass an exam, the University is obliged to sign you up for a second try automatically.

How will this ‘automatic exam sign-up’ work?

• The automatic sign-up will probably be based on a priority list, where students have indicated their top choices, and where it will automatically go to a second choice, if the top choice is full.
• If you don’t pass the second time, you are free to decide when you want to give it a third try.

How will summer school work in relation to the 30 ECTS requirement?

This is still being considered. Presumably, it will just be a case of signing up to a summer school at the beginning of the academic year and providing evidence. This way, the ECTS you get from summer school will be taken into account and be included in the semester total.

What will happen to students with alternative study plans?

So far, UCPH hasn’t made a final decision, but recommends that students with alternative study plans wait and see their student advisor to draw up a new study plan once the University has made its final decision.

What can students do now?

Anni Søborg recommends signing up for the new, normalised study plan from this coming spring already, and taking part in the overlooked student environment study to make their voices be heard.

Finally, if you want to know more about the reform and how it affects you, contact your student adviser or get in touch with your individual course advisers via. KUnet with more specific questions.

Disclaimer: UCPH’s official policy regarding the Study Progress Reform to speed-up studies is still under way. It’s therefore important to stress that Anni Søborg’s answers are based on drafts and suggestions, and some points are subject to change. The official announcement should be out shortly before Christmas.

See a longer Danish-language version of this article on Uniavisen.dk here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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