Minister to students: Face-up to reality!

Esben Lunde Larsen has only had the key to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science at Slotsholmsgade 10 in Copenhagen for just over 100 days. But there are doubtless those in academia who quietly wish he would lock himself out – just for a little while.

The minister started a debate when, shortly after being named, he told the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that he sees himself as a Christian who believes there is a creationist God behind everything. This gave rise to a discussion; could a minister of education and science believe that God created the world? Not everyone thought he could.

Then, at the end of August, Esben Lunde Larsen took a swipe at students who do not study full-time and who come to lectures unprepared, telling them on his Facebook profile that: "You’re not checking in to Paradise Hotel."

Immediately after that, the minister told the Danish newspaper Politiken that: "You cannot tell me that institutions who are currently overfed cannot tighten their belts", in connection with the announcement of blanket budget cuts of two per cent at the Danish universities.

READ MORE: Where is the excess fat?

Just a month later the minister was again finding savings in the education and science sector, as the government’s Finance Bill shaved DKK 1.4 billion off of the research budget.

In between all this he also took a little trip to Kazakhstan to see the first Dane blasted into space.

"It’s been an amazing hundred days, which has brought me into a lot of contact with the sector. I’ve also been given the opportunity to highlight some of the things that I think are really important when it comes to education and science," says Esben Lunde Larsen when Omnibus meets him over a cup of coffee in his office at the ministry.

The new minister has a Master of Theology from the University of Copenhagen and a PhD degree on Grundtvig's concept of freedom. This makes him the most highly educated Minister for Higher Education and Science ever in Denmark. He has been Venstre's (Danish Liberal Party) education and science spokesperson since 2012 and is also very satisfied with his appointment as minister for the area.

"It's a huge privilege to get the chance to work with education and science when that’s what really interests you most of all."

We must adjust, but progress remains our goal

One of the cases that Larsen has inherited from his predecessor is the much vilified study progress reform. This has led to students and rectors at universities in Denmark joining forces to call on the minister to relax the reform – or get rid of it altogether.

He has previously said that he was ready to adjust the reform. At the beginning of October he began negotiations with the other political parties who wished to be part of a political agreement to adjust the reform.

"I hope we can come to an agreement quickly, so it can come into effect after the summer holidays next year."

He will not provide any firm information about what the adjustments will consist of yet.

"I’m willing to get rid of everything that needs removing, as long as the universities guarantee the progress that must be achieved by 2020."

Finish on time!

However, the minister will not adjust the goal of progress.

In fact, completion with the prescribed duration is very much at the forefront of his thinking.

"That’s something I REALLY would like to talk about," he says while leaning forward in his chair.

"You need to excel as much as you can within the time you’re given. You shouldn’t spend ten months writing a Master's thesis. You have six months to write a Master's thesis. Could you write a better thesis if you spent ten months on it? Yes, perhaps you could. But that’s not the intention. The intention is that you, with the competences you have, must deliver a Master's thesis on the level you can manage within six months. In exactly the same way as taking a Master’s degree programme takes five years."

Face-up to reality!

In connection with this, Larsen emphasises that he takes it very seriously when he hears of the many students who say they feel themselves to be under pressure and feel stressed.

"But it could just as well be – and I say this with great empathy – that you take too much upon yourself, if you always think you have to deliver much more than whatever is specified in the framework for your studies."

One of the things that can give rise to stress is, of course, when you don’t feel you have enough time and opportunity to unfold your potential …

The minister interrupts:

"Exactly, that’s the core of the matter! If I had 48 hours available, I could take all the cases in my ministry and go into more depth with all of them. But I only have 24 hours, so I have to apportion my time. That’s why my impassioned appeal to the students is for them to face-up to reality – also in their degree programme."

But the reality you’re talking about is precisely the reality that you, as politicians, have set the framework for. It could be different.

"Yes, we are elected by the people to provide a framework for that reality, and we have said that the reality for our students is five years of studies."

The fact that some people might find the political framework backward-looking or rigid receives a frosty response from the minister.

"You can have a political opinion about that or not. But you’re only torturing yourself as students if you don’t reconcile your expectations of yourself with the reality of the framework."

What does the future hold?

Even though the minister has set a hard – some might say too hard – tone from the start, he has not exhausted his ambitions and visions for the education sector. Asked to name three impressions that he would like to make during his time as minister, Larsen says:

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"I would like to ensure high-quality education coverage throughout the country. I would like to ensure our students are more civic-minded and show greater self-responsibility, which for me means lower drop-out rates for our study programmes. And I would like to ensure that Danish educational institutions and Danish researchers are recognised, not just in Denmark, but throughout the world for their ability to apply education and research for the benefit of both the students and the society they live in."

So now we know a little more about what to expect…

Translated by Peter Lambourne