It pays to complain. At least if you feel you have been treated unfairly. <\/p>\n
One in five official appeals about exam results at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) are upheld. Examination rules were changed in 2010, and students filing official complaints about exam results have risked receiving a lower grade than the original, but in almost all actual cases a re-evaluation means a higher grade. <\/p>\n
In total 21.2 percent of appeals are upheld at UCPH, but with significant differences across faculties. <\/p>\n
31.8 per cent of appeals, one in every third appeal, is upheld at the Faculty of Humanities, whereas only approximately 15 per cent are upheld at the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. This could be because the faculties\u2019 definitions of ‘uphold’ varies. At the Faculty of Law, an upheld appeal means the student has received a higher grade, whereas at the Faculty of Social Sciences, it\u2019s defined as an offer of reevaluation or to retake the exam.<\/p>\n
Malou Astrup, president of the Student Council at UCPH, believes the numbers would be higher if students were made aware of their options. <\/p>\n
”Far more students feel that they are treated unfairly. But we students aren\u2019t informed about how to complain, and we don\u2019t know how,” she says. <\/p>\n
She would like to see more courses with thorough feedback during the semester and proper explanations for the grade given, instead of testing the students general knowledge at the end of the semester.<\/p>\n
There were a total of 1,579 exam appeals at UCPH in 2013 and 2014 from a student body of almost 40,000. The Faculty of Humanities had the fewest appeals relative to the number of students at 1.3 percent, and the Faculty of Law had the most at 12.7 percent.<\/p>\n
Laura Bech Hansen, chairwoman of the Humanities Council, believes that the smaller humanities classes better help to prepare students for exams.<\/p>\n
“As we have a lot of small courses, there are often also relatively small classes, where it\u2019s easier to establish a good dialogue with your lecturers. The shorter the distance between lecturer and student, the easier it is to ask about what\u2019s required at an exam, and to get a sense of your academic level,” Laura Bech Hansen says.<\/p>\n
Chairman of United Jurists (Forenede Jurister) Jens Guldager is not surprised to hear that students at the Faculty of Law have the highest rate of appea\u00e6s. <\/p>\n
”People care enormously about their exams because employers look at the results. When you combine that with the fact that we have a high gradepoint average from high school and have high expectations to ourselves, you have a cocktail that invites to examination appeals,” he says.<\/p>\n
Here is the data for each faculty at the University of Copenhagen:<\/p>\n
Faculty of Humanities<\/strong> Faculty of Law<\/strong> Faculty of Science<\/strong> Faculty of Social Sciences<\/strong> Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences<\/strong> Faculty of Theology<\/strong> UCPH in total<\/strong> Faculty of Humanities<\/strong> Faculty of Law<\/strong> Faculty of Natural Sciences<\/strong> Faculty of Social Sciences<\/strong> Faculty of Health Sciences<\/strong> Faculty of Theology<\/strong> UCPH in total<\/strong> universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n Do you have a good story? We would like to hear from you<\/a>. In the meantime, sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> for news, like us on Facebook<\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events and follow us on Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia stories.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Less than four percent of students file appeals over exam results. But maybe more should do it – a whopping 21 percent are upheld<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n(Jan 2013 \u2013 Dec 2014)
\nStudents: 11,627
\nExam appeals: 154
\nPercentage of students who complain: 1,3%<\/p>\n
\n(Winter exams 2012 \u2013 summer exams 2014)
\nStudents: 4,544
\nExam appeals: 578
\nPercentage of students who appeal: 12,7%<\/p>\n
\n(Academic years 2013-2015)
\nStudents: 9,628
\nExam appeals: 138
\nPercentage of students who appeal: 1,4%<\/p>\n
\n(2013 \u2013 2014)
\nStudents: 6,604
\nExam appeals: 389
\nPercentage of students who appeal: 5,8%<\/p>\n
\n(Winter exams 2012 \u2013 summer exams 2014)
\nStudents: 7,900
\nExam appeals: 306
\nPercentage of students who appeal: 3,8%<\/p>\n
\n(Jan. 2013 \u2013 Dec. 2014)
\nStudents: 670
\nExam appeals: 14
\nPercentage of students who appeal: 2,1%<\/p>\n
\nStudents: 40,974
\nExam appeals: 1,579
\nPercentage of students who appeal: 3,8%<\/p>\nSuccessful appeals<\/h2>\n
\n(Jan. 2013 \u2013 Dec. 2014)
\nAppeal: 154
\nAppeals upheld: 47
\nSecond appeals: 9
\nSecond appeals upheld: 2
\nTotal upheld: 49
\nShare upheld: 31,8%<\/p>\n
\n(Winter exams 2012 \u2013 summer exams 2014)
\nAppeals: 578
\nAppeals upheld: 76
\nSecond appeals: 76
\nSecond appeals upheld: 14
\nTotal upheld: 90
\nShare upheld: 15,5%<\/p>\n
\n(Academic years 2013-2015)
\nAppeals: 138
\nAppeals upheld: 36
\nSecond appeals: 3
\nSecond appeals upheld: 0
\nTotal upheld: 36
\nShare upheld: 26,1%<\/p>\n
\n(2013 \u2013 2014)
\nAppeals: 389
\nAppeals upheld: 89
\nSecond appeals: 42
\nSecond appeals upheld: 18
\nTotal upheld: 107
\nShare upheld: 27,5%<\/p>\n
\n(Winter exams 2012 \u2013 summer exams 2014)
\nAppeals: 306
\nAppeals upheld: 46
\nSecond appeals: not specified
\nSecond appeals upheld: not specified
\nTotal upheld: 46
\nShare upheld: 15%<\/p>\n
\n(Jan. 2013 \u2013 Dec. 2014)
\nAppeals: 14
\nAppeals upheld: 8
\nSecond appeals: 4
\nSecond appeals upheld: 0
\nTotal upheld: 8
\nShare upheld: 57%<\/p>\n
\nAppeals: 1579
\nAppeals upheld: 302
\nSecond appeals: 134
\nSecond appeals upheld: 34
\nTotal upheld: 336
\nShare upheld: 21,2%<\/p>\n