ENGLISH BELOW!
En samlet koalition af studerende fra IGN, inkluderende Geografi, Geologi, og Landskabsarkitekter rækker ud til SCIENCE administrationen for at åbne muligheden for vinterstart på kandidatuddannelsen i Geografi og Geoinformatik. Skriv under for at vise din støtte med dine nuværende studiekammerater og for fremtidens geografistuderende! Nedenfor står beskrevet hvordan situationen er opstået, og hovedargumenterne for hvorfor vinterstart for Geografi og Geoinformatik bør indføres.
Henvendende til SCIENCE Studieadministrationen
Vi er en gruppe bachelorstuderende fra Geografi og Geoinformatik, som henvender os med et ønske om at kunne ansøge om vinterstart på Geografi-kandidatuddannelsen fra februar 2025. Forandringer foretaget over de seneste par år har efterladt flere studerende i klemme mellem to reformer, hvor de står med økonomiske og uddannelsesmæssige udfordringer som man ikke havde en chance for at forebygge. Den nye SU-reform vil nemlig betyde, at nogle studerende pludselig kommer til at mangle SU-klip til sidste semester på kandidaten, hvilket naturligvis er en stressfaktor og skaber stor usikkerhed om vores mulighed for uddannelse.
Problemstillingen skyldes, at vi, baseret på den tidligere SU-ordning, der giver SU-klip til et ekstra studieår, for længe siden valgte at udskyde bacheloruddannelsen med et semester. Vi afslutter derfor vores bacheloruddannelser i januar 2025. Da den nye SU-reform træder i kraft for studerende, der starter på en ny uddannelse fra september 2025, ønsker vi at begynde vores kandidatuddannelse i februar 2025, ligesom alle andre Science-studerende på KU har mulighed for.
Forløbet der ledte til den situation vi, skribenterne, nu står ud:
Vores ønske om vinterstart er ikke opstået pludseligt, men er resultatet af en længere proces, hvor vi har søgt vejledning og afsøgt forskellige muligheder for at håndtere de udfordringer, vi står overfor.
- 1. december 2022 (frist for tilmelding af kurser i foråret): Vi valgte at udskyde et kursus for at fordybe os i vores problemorienterede projektarbejde.
- 1. juni 2023 (frist for tilmelding af kurser i foråret): Her udskyder vi endnu et kursus, så det passer med at udskyde bacheloren med et semester, hvilket SU-klippene tillader på dette tidspunkt.
- April 2024: Halvandet år efter vores første beslutning om at udskyde fag, fremsatte
regeringen et lovforslag om en ny SU-reform. Dette skabte stor usikkerhed for os, og vi begyndte straks at søge hjælp hos studievejledning, SU-vejledning og andre, som kunne give os indsigt i, hvad reformen ville betyde for os, der allerede havde valgt at udskyde fag. Dengang var der dog ingen, der turde eller kunne give os klare svar.
- Sommeren 2024: Vi afsøgte mulighederne for at nå at indhente de udskudte fag og
bachelorprojekt inden kandidatstart 2024. Fristen for at søge kurser var dog allerede
overskredet, og studievejledningen kunne desværre ikke hjælpe os med løsninger.
- 4. juni 2024: Lovforslaget blev vedtaget med tilbagevirkende kraft, hvilket gjorde det klart for os, at vi ville blive omfattet af den nye SU-reform. Vi søgte igen vejledning, men den eneste afklaring, vi fik, var, at vi kun kunne undgå reformens konsekvenser, hvis vi ikke havde udskudt fag og søgt ind på kandidaten med opstart i september 2024.
- Sommeren 2024: Vi begyndte at undersøge alternative kandidater med vinterstart på andre institutter på KU for eventuelt at indhente fag, som senere kunne meritoverføres til vores Geografikandidat. Det blev klart for os, at IGN’s tre uddannelser på KU SCIENCE er de eneste, der ikke tilbyder vinterstart med retskrav. Vi gik derfor til vores studieleder for at få hjælp til at få oprettet vinterstart på Geografi-kandidaten.
RUC’s ekstraordinære vinterstart:
I vores søgning stødte vi derudover på RUC, som har været proaktive og lavet en ekstraordinær vinterstart på to af deres kandidater. Selvom dette giver os mulighed for at indhente nogle fag, matcher de udbudte fag desværre ikke de profiler, vi har opbygget inden for GIS og naturgeografi. Dette ville dog ikke heller ikke løse vores udfordringer fuldstændigt, da vi ved at søge ind på Geografikandidaten med opstart september 2025 stadig ville være omfattet af den nye SU-ordning.
Vi håber, at vores situation kan illustrere det problem, som flere studerende, der ønsker at læse en kandidat specialiseret i geovidenskab eller naturressourceforvaltning står med. Vi beder derfor om at der oprettes mulighed for vinterstart på Geografi-kandidaterne for optag i februar 2025, og at der derefter fremadrettet arbejdes for en permanent mulighed for vinterstart. Som det eneste institut på SCIENCE uden vinterstart, vil det klæde IGN at give sine studerende de samme muligheder for fleksibilitet som resten af vores fakultet allerede gør. Udover os fra Geografi, har dette ønske allerede fået opbakning fra over 150 IGN-studerende, som også ønsker vinterstart, inkluderende ca 20 personer, der står i situationer som beskrevet ovenfor, og derfor allerede ville få glæde af det fra februar 2025.
Vi er bevidste om, at dette er med kort varsel, men vi har arbejdet så hurtigt, vi kunne, og afsøgt alle andre muligheder undervejs. Vinterstart er den eneste løsning, der kan sikre vores fortsatte uddannelsesforløb uden økonomisk usikkerhed.
Med venlig hilsen
Andrea Sabine Gradin, Camille Maria Bruun, and Nikoline Victoria Traun, og støttet af Mathias Thygesen-Nielsen
Geografi og Geoinformatik-studerende
For at støtte os, skriv under med dit navn eller kaldenavn, samt din studieretning (i stedet for by)
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A coalition of students from IGN, including Geography, Geology, and Landscape Architecture, is now reaching out the the SCIENCE administration to open the possibility for winter start for the Masters degrees in Geography and Geoinformatics, Geology, and Landscape Architecture. Please sign this letter to show your support to your fellow students, and for the students of the future. The below letter describes the situation several students are now stuck in, and lays out the main arguments for why winter start should be introduced.
Directed at the SCIENCE administration
We are a group of undergraduate students from Geography and Geoinformatics, writing to request the opportunity to apply for a winter start in the Geography Master's program beginning in February 2025, as we find ourselves caught between two reforms. Changes made over the past few years have put several students in a difficult situation with both economic and educational consequences. The new SU reform means that several students suddenly lack SU grants for their final semesters in the Master's program, which is naturally a significant stress factor and has caused great uncertainty.
For some, the situation arose because, based on the previous SU system, which provided SU grants for an additional year of study, we decided long ago to delay our Bachelor’s degree by one semester. As a result, we will complete our Bachelor’s programs in January 2025. Since the new SU reform will take effect for students starting a new program from September 2025 onwards, we wish to begin our Master’s program in February 2025, just like all other Science students at the University of Copenhagen are allowed to do.
The process that led to the current situation:
Our request for a winter start is not a sudden decision but the result of a long process where we sought guidance and explored various options to address the challenges we are facing.
- December 1, 2022 (course registration deadline for the spring): We decided to postpone a course to focus on our problem-oriented project work. - June 1, 2023 (course registration deadline for the fall): We postponed another course to align with delaying our Bachelor’s degree by one semester, which the SU grants at the time allowed. - April 2024: A year and a half after our initial decision to postpone courses, the government proposed a new SU reform. This created great uncertainty for us, and we immediately sought help from study counselors, SU advisors, and others who could provide insight into what the reform would mean for those of us who had already chosen to delay courses. However, no one could give us clear answers at the time. - Summer 2024: We explored the possibility of catching up on the delayed courses and completing the Bachelor’s project before the start of the Master’s in 2024. However, the deadline for applying for courses had already passed, and the study guidance unfortunately could not offer us any solutions. - June 4, 2024: The law was passed retroactively, making it clear to us that we would be subject to the new SU reform. We sought guidance again, but the only clarification we received was that we could only avoid the reform’s consequences if we had not postponed courses and had applied for the Master’s program starting in September 2024. - Summer/Fall 2024: We began investigating alternative Master’s programs with a winter start at other institutes at the University of Copenhagen in hopes of taking courses that could later be transferred as credits to the Geography Master's program. It became clear to us that IGN’s three programs at KU SCIENCE are the only ones which do not offer a winter start with legal claim. Therefore, we approached our study director for help in establishing a winter start for the Geography Master’s program.
RUC's extraordinary winter start:
During our search, we also came across RUC, which has been proactive and created an extraordinary winter start for two of their Master’s programs. Although this gives us the opportunity to take some courses, unfortunately, the offered courses do not align with the profiles we have developed within GIS and physical geography. This would also not fully solve our challenges, as applying for the Geography Master’s program starting in September 2025 would still subject us to the new SU rules.
We hope that our situation can illustrate the problem that several students who wish to study their Master´s at IGN are facing. We therefore ask for the creation of winter start for the Master’s programs in Geography and Geoinformatics, Geology, and Landscape Architecture with enrollment in February 2025, and that going forward, there will be established a permanent possiblity of winter start for these three programs. As the only department at SCIENCE which does not offer winter start, it would be fitting for IGN til offer their students the same possiblities for flexibility as the rest of our faculty does.
Besides the three of us affected students from Geography, this is a wish that has already gained the support from over 150 IGN students who also wish for a winter start, including about 20 who are in similar situations as described above, and would therefore already benefit from it in February 2025. We are aware that this request comes at short notice, but we have worked as quickly as we could and explored all other possibilities along the way. A winter start is the only solution that can ensure the continuation of our education without financial uncertainty.
Kindest regards
Andrea Sabine Gradin, Camille Maria Bruun and Nikoline Victoria Traun, with support from Mathias Thygesen-Nielsen
Students at Geography and Geoinformatics
To support this cause, please sign this letter with your name or preferred name, as well as your study program (instead of city)
