The Student Ambassador’s newsletter Q1 2023

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

Counselling needs in Q1

In Q1, 26.4 percent of the enquiries were about exemptions and 23.9 percent about exam appeals.

Students who seek our guidance in relation to writing an application for exemption often have a permanent or temporary functional impairment and are applying for adjustments in relation to teaching, exams or curricula (studying at reduced hours or postponing academic progress requirements).

In general, students who contact the Student Ambassador for guidance on exam appeals can be divided into two categories:

  • Students who want to appeal against an evaluation, an unclear examination sequence or what they believe to be an inadequate academic basis of their evaluation.
  • Students who want to complain about what they believe to be errors or irregularities during an exam (for example, inadequate or confusing exam questions, technical deficiencies or that an exam was not carried out as described on kurser.ku.dk).
Dispensation: 26.4% Exam appeals: 23.9% Legal complaints 14.2% Suspected exam cheating: 9.7% Bullying: 8.1% Intake: 5.1% Other: 4.6% SU: 1.5% Thesis delay: 1.5% Sick leave: 1.5% Rules of conduct: 1.5% Credit transfer: 1.0% Student counselling: 0.5% Disenrolment: 0.5%

Statement by the Ombudsman concerning internal complaint procedure

On 10 February, the Parliamentary Ombudsman published a statement on the complaint procedure in connection with students’ legal complaints. Read the Ombudsman's statement (in Danish only).

 

In enquiries from students, we can already see an adjustment in the processing of legal complaints at UCPH.

We will continue to monitor case processing and see if some students’ situations were handled in a way that refrained them from complaining.

We will also look into relevant situations and see if there are ways to further strengthen students’ legal rights under the adjusted procedure and if there are ways to improve the dialogue between students and UCPH during case processing.

Meetings in February with the faculties’ programme managements and Education and Students

Each year in March, the Student Ambassador's annual report must be sent to the university director, and before that (in February at the latest), the Student Ambassador Bo Gad Køhlert meets with the programme management of each faculty and Education & Students from the Central Administration to discuss enquiries from students received during the year. Representatives from the programme management and student politicians attend the meetings.

In February 2023, discussions included:

  • Involvement of teachers, supervisors etc. in teaching students the frameworks for paraphrasing and digital notes in order to avoid students being reported for suspected exam cheating due to plagiarism or self-plagiarism (based on the Central Administration's recommendations in a summary of consultation responses on the revision of the University's rules of conduct (August 2022) and a European research project published in 2022)
  • The student ambassador's dialogues with units on student-specific situations during 2022.

UCPH course to write clearer decisions and emails to students

Would you like new inspiration for how to communicate more clearly with students regarding decisions or via email? Are you often unsure about how you can express yourself in the clearest way? Have you experienced a dialogue with a student come to a deadlock? Or do you just want to become even better at avoiding misunderstandings when you communicate in writing?

Then this full-day course is for you!

Register for the free course here.

We also offered the course in 2021 and 2022. The previous course participants have rated the course as follows:

2022:

On a scale from 1 to 5 Course content and communication – How would you rate the course in general? 4.5 Course content and communication – How would you rate your learning outcome? 4.5 Course content and communication – How would you rate the correlation between the course topics? 4.3 The lecturer – How would you rate the lecturer's contact with the participants? 4.8 The lecturer – How would you rate the communication of the material? 4.5 The lecturer – How would you rate the pacing? 4.8 Course material – How would you rate the course material? 4.0 How would you rate the service level in connection with course registration and information? 4.5
Total average: 4.5 Respondents: 4

2021:

On a scale from 1 to 5 Course content and communication – How would you rate the course in general? 4.5 Course content and communication – How would you rate the learning outcome? 4.2 Course content and communication – How would you rate the correlation between the course topics? 4.5 The lecturer – How would you rate the lecturer's contact with the participants? 4.9 The lecturer – How would you rate the communication of the material? 4.8 The lecturer – How would you rate the pacing? 4.3 Course material – How would you rate the course material? 4.3 How would you rate the service level in connection with course registration and information? 4.4
Total average: 4.5 Respondents: 13

We offer this course because student enquiries since the establishment of the Student Ambassador in 2013 have proved that, for example, reasons for rejection can sometimes be communicated more clearly. This applies to the processing of student applications, complaints and disciplinary cases alike. Read more about our insights into communication regarding decisions at UCPH in the Student Ambassador’s annual reports.

Maternity-leave cover

In March 2023, Jonas Wedel-Brandt was hired as the maternity-leave cover for the Student Ambassador’s communications officer Stine Lerche Øilo. Jonas started on 1 April 2023.