Since 2001, students at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication have been able to go to him with their problems. <\/p>\n
And Roar has seen everything: Problems with registering for exams to students struggling with depression or personal crises.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the problems of the average student\u201d says Roar. \u201cEvery bit of my job was about someone needing help. I liked going home knowing that I had helped someone solve a problem or go from A to B\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the course of the thirteen years he has been counselling students, Roar has seen how the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and its students have changed significantly. \u201cWhen I started, people were still writing letters on regular mail. We never get mail anymore,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
UCPH students outlook has changed. \u201cBefore the attitude was that you were here to learn. It was normal to take ten years to finish your studies. You didn\u2019t leave until you thought you\u2019d learned enough. The end goal was to be a student\u201d.<\/p>\n
You won\u2019t find this in today\u2019s students. \u201cNow the end goal of studying is getting a job. Students are very focused today. There are more students who are stressed out. Or maybe not, but as a student and career counsellor, I have been in more contact with stressed students in the later years\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, students who had a hard time would keep to themselves, and eventually most of them would probably drop out. Now it\u2019s more accepted to talk about it. Which is, of course, a positive thing, but I think this is because there is more pressure on students now, and the reform will add even more pressure,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He is, of course, talking about the Study Progress Reform, in Danish the Fremdriftsreform<\/em> which will make students go through their study programmes faster.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure that the students would have changed if the educational framework had not changed,\u201d says Roar when we talk about why<\/em> students are more focused today. <\/p>\n \u201cIt begins at high school [in Danish, ‘gymnasiet’, ed.] where people have to choose electives from the beginning. Now you have to begin studying two years after graduating high school.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cBut it is always hard to tell whether a change is for the better or the worse. I\u2019m always very conservative when they change the structure of the University. But then it tends to work out well in the end,\u201d says Roar. <\/p>\n He refers to when they put a six month limit on thesis writing and it turned out to be a positive change.<\/p>\n Because \u201cfewer students are caught in the thesis swamp\u201d as he puts it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe added pressure will probably not be a problem for the average student, but for the \u201cweaker\u201d students it definitely will. What is very, very important is that we have enough resources in the counselling to help the students who have a hard time with the added pressure. And I\u2019m sure there will be more of those in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n So what is Roar going to be doing now? He is staying at the University of Copenhagen, where he is going to work in a group that will check the quality of study programmes and improve them, he says.<\/p>\n “During the last three or four years I have often thought, why are they doing things like this. So now I have the opportunity to influence how things are done! I have a lot of good ideas”.<\/p>\n universitypost@adm.ku.dk <\/p>\n Like us on Facebook <\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events. Follow us on Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories. Sign up for the University Post weekly newsletter here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a career and student counsellor at the University of Copenhagen, Roar Kent has seen it all. Now he’s moving on to a new position. The University Post met him to discuss how the concerns of students have changed in the last decade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":9457,"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-9456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nHarder for the ‘weaker’ students<\/h2>\n
What next?<\/h2>\n