Student Ambassador's News Letter Q3 2020

The Student ambassador’s quarterly newsletter keeps you updated on how the Student ambassador and many others are working to improve students’ legal position and develop dialogue and understanding between students and the University.

Extension of maximum completion time

In many of the enquiries we receive during a year, we see, for example, how important it is that study boards and other bodies make a discretionary assessment of all information in a student's application for dispensation before deciding what the student can be granted dispensation for.

In Q3, we saw, for example, that study boards and case workers should do more in relation to considering an extension of a student’s maximum completion time when students are in a situation where exceptional circumstances will lead to an extension of the maximum completion time.

During the same period, it has been gratifying to see though, that the Rector asks study boards to reconsider cases if a student has complained about a study board not considering this part of the student’s situation.

Counselling needs in Q3

In Q3, the student ambassador received 176 enquiries. Like in Q2, a significant part of them were related to the corona situation. Most of the enquiries were from students who needed guidance in relation to applying for exemption.

Additionally, we have seen an unusually high number of disciplinary cases and exam appeals. Like in Q2, the number of disciplinary cases has been unusually high. The enquiries were particularly from students who were suspected of exam cheating after having their examination form changed due to corona.

Sick leave 1.1% Credit transfer 2.3% Other 6.2% Legal complaints 8.0% Intake 13.6% Exam appeals 19.9% Disciplinary cases 21.6% Exemption 27.3%

‘Deletion day’ in August

The Student ambassador is a member of the University’s deletion squad, and we had our annual ‘deletion day’ in August. On the day, we reviewed our:

  • personal and shared drives
  • personal and joint email inboxes
  • work mobile phones
  • Facebook profile

We deleted all personal data which could no longer be stored in accordance with the student ambassador's data deletion policy. Furthermore, we introduced new weekly deletion routines.

We also sat aside time to complete the University's online GDPR course for employees.

As a reader of this newsletter, you probably also want to stay updated on anything new concerning GDPR, information security and data management at the University of Copenhagen. We recommend that you sign up for the newsletter from the UCPH data protection officer.

Subscribe to the newsletter from the UCPH data protection officer here (choose: ‘News about GDPR, data management and information security’. Find it under the category ‘Others’)

Quiz about the Student ambassador on Zoom

Study start was a little different than usual for all of us. You have probably already done quite a few online presentations for students who sat behind turned-off cameras. The Student ambassador Bo Gad Køhlert experienced exactly that when he did a virtual presentation for second-semester medical students in the beginning of September. However, the students were very active behind their turned-off cameras, which Bo found out when he started an online quiz with six questions about what kind of help the Student Ambassador offers students. Here, you can watch a video of the quiz from a previous study start.