It is important that all the teachers check whether any changes have been made in the academic regulations for the courses they teach.

If you are in any doubt as to whether changes have been made in your academic regulations, please check point 4 (“Changes in the academic regulations”).

You are also welcome to ask SNUK for advice via arts.uddannelseskvalitet@au.dk. Or you can ask the secretary of your degree programme board (uddannelsesnævn).

Here are some of the changes that may have been made:

1. Changes in the academic content

Any changes in the academic content applying to courses in the autumn semester of 2021 will have been visible in the course catalogue since 1 April. Changes applying to courses in the spring of 2022 are now visible in the academic regulations and in the course catalogue.

So if you are teaching any courses in the spring, it is a good idea to check these courses in the academic regulations and course catalogue before starting to plan your teaching.

2. Changes in “About the degree programme”, “Degree programme rules” and “General rules”

Changes in “About the degree programme” (point 1 of the academic regulations), “Degree programme rules” (point 2.1 of the academic regulations) or “General rules” (point 3 of the academic regulations) are made once a year owing to changes in the rules – for instance new ministerial orders, revised rules for AU or the Faculty of Arts, or decisions regarding new practices made by a board of studies.

“About the degree programme” describes the programme concerned and outlines the rules applying to it – for instance admission requirements, the legal right of admission, phasing out and transitional rules. “Degree programme rules” contains a set of specific rules applying to individual academic regulations, and may vary from one degree programme to the next – for instance rules about the language of the exam, the curriculum, and participation in the teaching. “General rules”, on the other hand, contains a set of rules which apply to all degree programmes at the Faculty of Arts – for instance rules about registering for and withdrawing from exams, and rules about exams and major written assignments.

It is important that teachers are familiar with these points in the academic regulations, because they describe the framework for the students’ study and exam activity.

Changes this year:

Section 1 – About the degree programme:

• Plans to phase out old academic regulations when new ones come into force: When new academic regulations come into force, a plan is drawn up to phase out the previous academic regulations. This plan shows when teaching and exams will be conducted for the last time under the previous academic regulations, and when the exam connected with the thesis and Bachelor’s project will be conducted for the last time.

Section 2.1 – Degree programme rules::

• Dispensation relating to the demand for on-site participation has been extended to the autumn semester of 2021 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic: Students can comply with the demand for active participation without attending the teaching regularly (75%).
• Prerequisites required in order to take exams: The prerequisites required to take exams will not be presented in the exam plans, so this sentence has been deleted in the section describing these prerequisites.

Section 3 – General rules:

• Section 3.8 of the general rules describing project placements: The rules regarding project hosts have been defined more clearly.
• Demand for active enrolment removed: As of 1 February 2021, the demand for active enrolment was removed. 

3. Changes owing to SNUK’s annual review of legal issues

SNUK carries out a legal review of all the faculty’s academic regulations once a year. SNUK collects information from our departments and administrative staff, as well as information about exam complaints relating to problems in the academic regulations. SNUK will then decide which changes are needed in the academic regulations, based on the issues that are most urgent. These improvements help to remove any confusion among teachers and students, to reduce the number of exams that cannot be completed, to improve communication, and to ensure the legal rights of the students.

This year’s legal review has led to the following changes in the exam descriptions in relevant academic regulations:

CAS/CC/DPU:

• “Blackboard” has been replaced by “Brightspace” in all academic regulations because Brightspace has been implemented for the autumn semester of 2021.
• A uniform practice has been introduced for the use of links in academic regulations.
• If academic regulations have a winter intake, this is now stated clearly in the name of the track.
• A fixed practice has been defined regarding the approval of final assignments for Bachelor’s projects, Master’s theses and professional Master’s projects, if this was not already stated in the academic regulations.
• Dispensation will be granted in the autumn semester of 2021 and spring semester of 2022 on the profile semester, giving the students the option of taking non-Danish courses at Danish universities in the form of international electives. 

DPU:

• The admission requirements no longer state that applicants can include relevant experience (including work experience) in their applications for admission. This is because this sentence is not relevant for the admission requirements

• It has been underlined that the exam descriptions for elective courses can be found in the course catalogue for Master’s degree programmes.

4. Changes in commencement of studies exams on Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes

Owing to the extension of dispensation from the demand for on-site participation in the autumn semester of 2021, there have been changes in some commencement of studies exams on both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes. These changes are specified in the course catalogue.