Lottery to decide who goes abroad from University of Copenhagen \u2014 not everyone\u2019s happy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nRie Snekkerup explains that multiple factors have led to the reversal of the decision. According to the regulations pertaining to exchange programmes, academic criteria must be in place before a university can use a lottery system.<\/p>\n
\u00bbAccording to government directives, we are required to allocate based on academic merit first, and it\u2019s unclear to us when exactly we\u2019re allowed to use a lottery.\u00ab<\/p>\n
The deputy director says UCPH has received multiple responses from students who found the new system unclear, and who were frustrated that they didn\u2019t know how to plan their exchange stays or how to inform the university.<\/p>\n
Rie Snekkerup, shouldn\u2019t you have looked into all this before deciding to switch to a lottery?<\/em><\/p>\n\u00bbYes, we should have.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Why didn\u2019t it happen?<\/em><\/p>\n\u00bbWe\u2019ve been under enormous pressure in the administration. That\u2019s on me \u2014 I should\u2019ve said, hold your horses<\/em>. We can\u2019t launch a new system while we\u2019re also moving tasks around and building new collaborative structures. I take full responsibility, and now we\u2019re fixing it.\u00ab<\/p>\nOne month ago, the decision to move to a lottery system came with an argument about equal access for all students regardless of grades:<\/p>\n
\u00bbExchange should be an academic opportunity open to a broad group of students. It was never the idea that you should need top grades to go abroad,\u00ab Rie Snekkerup said at the time.<\/p>\n
Do these high-minded ideals on equality still apply?<\/em><\/p>\n\u00bbThey still apply. We were too quick, and we messed up, but exchange is a resource that should benefit all students, and I\u2019ll work hard to make that happen.\u00ab<\/p>\n
The deputy director cannot say when this will be. The next step is for legal experts to look into the regulations and help UCPH find a way to incorporate both academic criteria and a lottery system. When that happens, the announcement will be made well in advance, according to Rie Snekkerup.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI can completely understand if some frustrated students were hoping to be considered for a popular exchange destination \u2014 and now they cannot do so. I totally get it. It\u2019s really unfortunate that we made this mistake, and now we have to fix it.\u00ab<\/p>\n
This article was first written in Danish and published on 28 October 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.<\/em>
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were too quick, and we messed up,\u00ab says Rie Snekkerup, Deputy Director for Education at the University of Copenhagen"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Study abroad","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>First it was grade point average that determined where students from the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) could study abroad on an exchange programme. Then it all changed and study abroad placings were to be distributed by lottery. Now, in an about turn, it’s back to grade point average again.<\/p>\n<p>Confusing? Yes it is.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe messed up,\u00ab admits Rie Snekkerup, Deputy Director for Education at UCPH:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe got a lot of feedback from students about the move to a lottery system. We had acted prematurely, and we didn\u2019t fully understand the rules.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/lottery-to-decide-who-goes-abroad-from-university-of-copenhagen-not-everyones-happy\/\">University Post reported in early October<\/a> that the university would switch to a lottery system for the next round of study abroad exchanges in November 2025. This set off a wave of criticism, like from political science student Villum Graglia, who argued that basing a decision on an academic opportunity on pure chance made no sense.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhen grades are no longer used to allocate the most coveted placements, the university undermines its own meritocratic practice,\u00ab he said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Now the plan for a lottery has been scrapped before it was ever implemented.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We had acted prematurely, and we didn\u2019t fully understand the rules<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Rie Snekkerup, Deputy Director for Education at UCPH<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/lottery-to-decide-who-goes-abroad-from-university-of-copenhagen-not-everyones-happy\/\"><em>Lottery to decide who goes abroad from University of Copenhagen \u2014 not everyone\u2019s happy<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Rie Snekkerup explains that multiple factors have led to the reversal of the decision. According to the regulations pertaining to exchange programmes, academic criteria must be in place before a university can use a lottery system.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAccording to government directives, we are required to allocate based on academic merit first, and it\u2019s unclear to us when exactly we\u2019re allowed to use a lottery.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The deputy director says UCPH has received multiple responses from students who found the new system unclear, and who were frustrated that they didn\u2019t know how to plan their exchange stays or how to inform the university.<\/p>\n<p><em>Rie Snekkerup, shouldn\u2019t you have looked into all this before deciding to switch to a lottery?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbYes, we should have.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>Why didn\u2019t it happen?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe\u2019ve been under enormous pressure in the administration. That\u2019s on me \u2014 I should\u2019ve said, <em>hold your horses<\/em>. We can\u2019t launch a new system while we\u2019re also moving tasks around and building new collaborative structures. I take full responsibility, and now we\u2019re fixing it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>One month ago, the decision to move to a lottery system came with an argument about equal access for all students regardless of grades:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbExchange should be an academic opportunity open to a broad group of students. It was never the idea that you should need top grades to go abroad,\u00ab Rie Snekkerup said at the time.<\/p>\n<p><em>Do these high-minded ideals on equality still apply?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThey still apply. We were too quick, and we messed up, but exchange is a resource that should benefit all students, and I\u2019ll work hard to make that happen.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The deputy director cannot say when this will be. The next step is for legal experts to look into the regulations and help UCPH find a way to incorporate both academic criteria and a lottery system. When that happens, the announcement will be made well in advance, according to Rie Snekkerup.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI can completely understand if some frustrated students were hoping to be considered for a popular exchange destination \u2014 and now they cannot do so. I totally get it. It\u2019s really unfortunate that we made this mistake, and now we have to fix it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was first written in Danish and published on 28 October 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with upcoming events and top University of Copenhagen stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":42,"name":"Education","slug":"education","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":42,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":661,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11485,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":672,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/rieao6i1340edit_web-1280x854.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183129"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183275,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183129\/revisions\/183275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}