A word from the Dean

Dear Staff and Students

The Study Progress Reform from 2013 is a good example of governmental micromanagement and meddling not always having the expected result on the shop floor. The compulsory registration of students onto study programmes in recent years has not had a positive influence on study progress at SDU - in the last year, rather, study time has gone in the wrong direction.

With the political agreement from November of last year, the universities were allowed to implement their own framework for ensuring study progress. SDU's Management and Heads of Studies from across the whole of SDU have worked intensively to create a common framework for all study programmes at SDU. It has not been easy, but there now exists a draft that I fully support.

First of all, I would like to point out that improved study progress isn't actually about frameworks and rules. First and foremost, it's about a changed study culture - a culture that both teachers and students must help to create. As we all know, cultures are shaped by things like values and norms. In order to promote a study culture with good study progress, the norm has to be that students study full-time. The majority of students should therefore be full-time students who complete their education in the prescribed time.

The new common rules at SDU do not require students to register for 30 ECTS each semester - with the exception of the first year of study, when students will be automatically registered for all courses. I do, however, have an expectation that students will register and pass 30 ECTS courses per semester. That should be the norm. Students who have the prerequisites and the motivation, and who are dedicated to their studies should be able to live up to this norm; as an institution of education, this is our responsibility. At the same time, we will make room for exceptions, for students who, with good reasons, wish to slightly deviate from the beaten track through their studies.

My hope is that the new common framework at SDU will contribute to changing the study culture so that study start tests, activity requirements and maximum study time become unnecessary. That's what we should aim for.

Read more about this in the newsletter.

Martin Zachariasen, Dean