How to ruin a popular degree programme

I completely accept that this kind of reform might be necessary. After all, we students are going to have to make cuts, just like everyone else. The good thing about the reform is that it should stop students studying for an eternity. It will encourage us to work harder to complete our degree programmes – after which we can help to generate growth and development.

But insisting that the reform should apply across the board without any dispensation options is simply unwise. It will ruin a large number of good, flexible degree programmes.

I’m studying business administration, accounting and auditing, and I believe that the impact on us will be completely unfair. Roughly half the people on my programme are part-time students who work full-time as accountants while studying for their Master’s on the side. The flexible system that allows this to happen has proved to be a huge success among employers, resulting in a very low level of unemployment among graduates of the programme. According to an analysis produced by FSR – Danish Auditors, the level of unemployment for new graduates of my programme was as low as two per cent in 2011, compared with 20.1 per cent for new graduates of business administration as a whole.

But under the new reform this popular system will no longer be possible. This is because everyone will have to register for subjects and exams corresponding to full-time study: 30 ECTS credits each semester. Which is why the reform has created so much uncertainty and concern among people on my degree programme. 

FSR – Danish Auditors have appealed to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education, asking that part-time students on the Master’s degree programme in business administration, accounting and auditing who do not receive a student grant and are employed full-time as accountants should be granted exemption from the 30 ECTS rule. But without success.

But why should this group of students suffer? What’s the big idea? The part-time students on our degree programme don’t get a student grant – in fact they work and pay tax. They also help to liven up the lessons by passing on their practical experience and providing direct input from business life.

The reform seems even more ridiculous in the light of the fact that in May 2013 the same government reformed the demands made on state-authorised accountants. This made it possible to spend two out of the three mandatory years gaining practical experience in connection with the Master’s degree programme in business administration, accounting and auditing. It also reduced the average age of state-authorised accountants, as well as increasing the pass rate without compromising on the academic quality of the programme. This will no longer be possible under the study progress reform. Instead, the government has simply taken one step forwards and two back.

Mick Langholm Hansen is a first-year Master’s student of business administration, accounting and auditing, and chair of the AUD committee at BSS

Translated by Nicholas Wrigley