Students are furious after the country’s largest educational institution, NTNU, decided that more school exams should go as normal. Extra guards are now being introduced at the examination rooms.
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Carina Flåten (25) is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in renewable energy at NTNU in Ålesund. She will have a physical school exam on Monday – and is disappointed with the management.
– The principal has sent an e-mail that they have set up extra buses and security in Trondheim. In Ålesund, we will meet many students on Monday for the ordinary exam. We feel a little forgotten, says Flåten.
She says many students perceive it as if NTNU is more concerned with the academic than with the health of the individual.
– I would encourage NTNU to have more consideration for the individual student in this situation, says Flåten.
The students react strongly to the fact that the school believes that it is not academically justifiable to change to a digital exam. Several have complained about NTNU’s internal pages, many have contacted VG, and over 1400 students have signed an online signature campaign.
Earlier this week, the NTNU students’ shop stewards, the Student Parliament, positive for the school exam. Now they have turned.
– Enormous concern
– What is the background for the Student Parliament turning in this case?
– It is first and foremost due to the enormous concern in the student body. We must take it very seriously and represent it. Furthermore, omikron has changed the situation considerably from as it was earlier in the exam period, says student leader Andreas Knudsen Sund to VG.
–– Not done enough
The student leader says they have received approval for extra infection measures, including extra security at the entrances to the exam rooms and extra buses.
– We also asked that a reassessment be made for each subject on whether it is critical with a physical exam. We first experienced this being heard, but it was later changed. We do not feel that enough is being done to meet the great concern in the student body, says Knudsen Sund.
– How do you perceive the feedback from the students?
– There is widespread dissatisfaction and concern from very many students. The students are worried about infecting older family members or ending up in quarantine over Christmas. It is then very stressful for many to have to attend a compulsory exam.
This is what the principal writes to the students
In an e-mail to NTNU students, Rector Anne Borg writes, among other things:
All exams go as planned at the end of the semester. This applies in Trondheim, Gjøvik and Ålesund. It is not academically justifiable to change to a home exam in the middle of the exam period. The alternative would be to postpone the exam until after the New Year – something that could affect the study progression.
–She further writes:
The municipal chief physician has confirmed that the infection control measures on the examination are satisfactory, and it is justifiable to carry out a physical examination.
NTNU: – The student body is divided
Rector of NTNU, Marit Reitan, says that they have the impression that the student body is divided on the issue.
– Many express that they are worried about the risk of becoming infected and want a digital exam, but there is also a large group who experience it as safe to show up physically. These do not want postponements of exams that can affect the study progression.
She emphasizes that if a student in the examination room turns out to be infected with corona, only the students who sit less than two meters away are considered close contacts.
– The greatest risk of infection is on the way to and from the exam. That is why we have put in extra measures here to increase safety, says Reitan.
One of the measures is extra security when the students are going in and out of the exam rooms.
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