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 2023 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.

Removal of prerequisites:
The individual departments are informed about specific changes in their academic regulations, but as something special this year, changes have been introduced to the academic content of almost all of the academic regulations due to the project of removing prerequisites. The project has been triggered by changes to the Examination Order (eksamensbekendtgørelsen) and has led to the removal of prerequisites for the vast majority of courses. In this connection, other changes may be introduced to the course descriptions, while the courses that retain a prerequisite may have been changed due to new guidelines for prerequisite.

Therefore, it is especially important that you, as a teacher this year, check the description of your course in the academic regulations and course catalogue.

You will find the new guidelines for handling the remaining prerequisites here:

https://medarbejdere.au.dk/fakulteter/arts/underviserportalen/eksamen/forudsaetningskrav

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:

• Chances to the standard descriptions of prerequisite requirements and lecture participation as a form of examination as a result of the project to remove prerequisites.
• It has been added in all translated English versions of academic regulations for Danish accredited degree programmes that the Danish version is legally applicable, if there is any inconsistency between the two.

Section 3 – general rules:

• Minor changes in wording in the description of the deadline for registration for re-examinations

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:

• On professional Master's degree programmes, the existing progression requirements for the master's project have been clarified, so that it is clear from the exam description of the master's project that all other courses on the degree programme must be passed before the student can be allowed to take the exam and potential teaching/supervision. The individual departments will receive more information about the progression rule from Arts studies as soon as possible.
• In the description of the master's theses (speciale), it has been made clear that there is a requirement for approval of a supervision plan in order for the thesis to be assessed.