The Student’s Column
WANTED: Common sense at SUND
Let me start by asking a hypothetical question: If you need travel advice for your holiday to Bali, do you want it from someone who has been there and experienced the country, or from someone who has only been told and read about how to experience the country?
And now let me ask you a practical question:
If you are having problems with your studies, would you rather have student counselling from a student on your own study programme or on a completely different programme at the Faculty?
Unfortunately, the reality for SUND’s student counselling at the moment is that the programme-specific counselling has been discontinued in favour of one team of counsellors for the entire SUND.
Efficient? Yes. Practical? Maybe. A good idea? No.
The argument is that we need to build a reliable Kia because we can no longer afford a top-tuned Ferrari. But it’s just really stupid to downgrade to a Kia when you have a garage full of perfectly functioning Ferrari parts.
SDU’s 2030 strategy includes buzzwords such as excellent, outstanding and groundbreaking. That doesn’t exactly align with the ambition of a reliable Kia.
Over the past two years, I’ve counselled countless current and prospective fellow students on everything from new study plans to exemption applications and exchange opportunities.
A core value for me has been that the student should leave the counselling session with more answers than questions. Sometimes they find the answers on their own, and sometimes I use my knowledge and experience to guide them toward the right answer.
My professional foundations are based on four years as a member of the study board, active participation in the social and academic study environments and most importantly: my own experience as a student.
I know that there is a huge difference between one 5-ECTS-credit course and another 5-ECTS-credit course.
I know which periods are more stressful for students and which periods are calmer. And I know which exams are easier than others.
Let’s be real. There is a difference. And no – 1 ECTS credit is not always the same.
This experience and this knowledge are deliberately used as active components of student counselling, for example, when study plans are made with students who need to catch up on their exams.
But soon, this will no longer be possible. Because student counsellors will no longer be affiliated with their study programmes. They will be counsellors for the entire SUND.
Not because the other study programmes don’t have counsellors. But because it’s a better idea to have a bunch of counsellors who know a little bit about everything instead of knowing a lot about the area they are experts in.
But isn’t that because we don’t have enough money?
No. It is because SDU is incapable of communicating across the organisation. At SDU Recruitment, the ‘Meet the students online’ scheme includes one student from each study programme. A wonderful initiative in many ways. But also an expensive initiative. The cost per email correspondence – regardless of whether it takes 2 minutes in total or 45 minutes in total – is DKK 220. This is almost exactly the equivalent of one hour’s salary for a student counsellor. Who, by the way, also gets the same kind of emails and questions online, at student fairs and open day events.
So if you’re looking for a student job, I suggest applying for such jobs – with a potential hourly wage of over DKK 1,000 – before you consider student counsellor positions that offer much lower wages.
The higher the organisational level at which a problem is addressed, the further it is removed from those who are actually facing the problems. Ask any student whether they would prefer to be counselled by someone who has been a student on the same study programme, has taken the same exams and has had the same lecturers, or by someone from a completely different study programme.
I know what their answer will be. Anyone with common sense knows.
Niclas Vellier Nyegaard
Master’s student on Sports and Health Student representative on SDU’s Board