OPINION: AU's new exam hall is a concrete box that only accommodates the strongest students

This is an opinion piece, the views expressed in the column are the writer’s own. 

The exam season is in full swing, and the new exam hall is being actively used for conducting exams. The students flock to Lisbjerg by light rail, bus and the new commuter bike path, which takes you right to the door. There has been plenty of criticism of the hall – mainly because of the practical challenges associated with location of the hall and that public transport can’t keep up when 1,100 students have to show up for exams at the same time.

The exam hall consists of large halls and only ten small private rooms. Students with attention disorders, for example, who previously could get adapted exam conditions if they needed peace and quiet to be able to complete their exams, will now have to sit in the large halls. Similarly, students who, for one reason or another, have to dictate their exam – i.e. say their entire answer out loud – are also placed in the large halls. All because only ten single rooms have been built.

For this, AU's solution is shielding with room dividers and the students' own noise cancelling headphones. And if you can't afford expensive noise cancelling headphones? Then you and your special needs can sit behind a cardboard wall and try to concentrate, while someone else dictates their exam out loud right behind you. While the rest of the people in the room pace back and forth as exams start and end.

Reply: We are building on the experiences with the Exam Hall

Not everyone fits into AU's new, smart concrete building

AU must realise that not everyone fits into their smart new concrete building. Because the exam house – in its current form and administration – undermines fundamental rights for some of the students who need support the most. The university could and should have foreseen this, because only they have the necessary overview of exemptions and exam operations.

AU has presented the exam hall as a solution to logistical challenges in connection with exams. A place where you can gather many students and conduct exams efficiently and uniformly. This is an understandable goal, because the exam period naturally places great demands on the university's planning and resources.

But it must not be the case that the desire for efficiency and scale ends up affecting the most vulnerable students. Student must not be placed at a disadvantage compared to before. This would be unreasonable and indicates that AU is cutting corners.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what we are seeing now. Students with documented disabilities who previously had access to special conditions such as single rooms and quiet rooms now experience being denied these basic needs because the exam house lacks the facilities and flexibility to meet them.

Pressuring students who need support

For these students, it's difficult to see AU's new exam hall as anything other than a real deterioration in conditions. The many inquiries we have received in the Student Council clearly show these problems. AU must take responsibility and ensure that the deterioration does not become the new normal.

We can't afford to rest on our laurels and think that everything will be fine once we get used to the new exam hall. There is a principled line we need to draw here: Streamlining must never lead to students being disadvantaged. That is why we in the Student Council believe that AU must take its task seriously and ensure better and fair conditions for all students – even if it costs extra and goes against the efficiency on which the exam hall is based.

This requires that AU recognises that not all students fit into the concrete building they have built. Standardisation is cheap, but it pushes the students most in need of support onto an undignified sidetrack.

The university states that the intentions of the exam house are generally in the best interests of the students. But intentions are not enough when students experience the opposite in practice – because the reality is clear: AU saves money, and the students pay the price. It can and must be done better.

This text is machine translated and post-edited by Cecillia Jensen.