Will the board of studies lose decision-making authority?
AU expects that the requirement for automatic registration for courses and exams that is part of the study progress reform will lead to a large increase in the number of exemption cases for the boards of studies. AU’s Education Committee, which develops common frameworks and strategies for AU’s study programmes, has therefore proposed opening for the possibility of delegating decision-making authority from the board of studies to the administration in routine cases where the board of studies has a fixed procedure.
The Education Committee has also proposed that the boards of studies should ensure that all study programmes contain the opportunity for students to take a study abroad period or an internship during a semester that is equivalent to 30 ECTS credits. As AU fears that fewer students will study abroad or find an internship once the requirement for automatic registration for courses and exams, and the requirement for obligatory credit transfer, come into effect. Both the study abroad period and internship are often associated with a loss of ECTS credits.
Both proposals have been to consultation at the AU Forum for Education, the Student Council and all of the boards of studies in all four main academic areas. The deadline for the consultation was 17 March. AU Studies Administration has subsequently gone through the responses and revised the proposals. The Education Committee is now processing the revised proposal and the senior management team will make a final decision on it at the beginning of April.