Save program specific study boards

The CBS Board wants to change that and merge many of the study boards. More specifically, the proposal is that there should only be three study boards in total for all bachelor programs.

Why should you care?

This decision limits student involvement regarding your programs. For now, you have the possibility to run for election and have a voice regarding important decisions. In the proposal, the study boards might be responsible for more than four programs; however, they will still only consist of four VIPs (usually CBS employees) and four students. This means that a study board can make decisions regarding a program that is not represented on the study board itself. The amount of students elected will be reduced significantly. 

Additionally, CBS suggests that 90 of the 180 ECTS on the bachelor program should be "common." In other words, only half of your education will be specific to your program and your specific interests.

We see a lot of problems regarding this and have therefore written a letter describing these issues. We hope that you would like to help us get heard by signing this petition.

Our letter, can be read in both Danish and English below: 

 - Student representatives of the Study board Ha(mat.) & CM.(mat.) and CBS Students

Til Bestyrelsen 

Vi skriver til jer angående en stor bekymring vedrørende forslagene om ændring af studienævnsstrukturen på CBS.  Som studerende ønsker vi den bedst mulige undervisning inden for de kompetencer, vi har valgt vores studie ud fra. Vi ønsker undervisning, der lærer os så mange færdigheder på et så højt fagligt niveau som muligt inden for de rammer, der gives af studietid og startkompetencer. Vi ønsker undervisning, der styrker vores faglige progression og ruster os godt til et liv med mange år på arbejdsmarkedet. En undervisning, som vi på mange måder mener, vi har.

Vi er bekymrede for at miste denne undervisning.  

Man vil på mange måder have en positiv bias over for sit eget studie. Men som studerende har man også et indblik og en forståelse for studiet, for fagene og for, hvad der gør studiet godt, som ingen andre har. Vi ved bedre end nogen, hvad der fungerer, og ligeledes også hvad der kunne forbedres. Det er næsten umuligt at finde en studerende, der ikke har en holdning til sit studie.Disse holdninger, forbedringsforslag, ris og ros har vi på nuværende tidspunkt et forum til at debattere i. Dette forum er studienævnene. Vi har mulighed for at stille op, blive inddraget og blive hørt. 

Denne mulighed vil ikke være sikret, hvis studienævnene bliver sammenlagt på den foreslåede måde. Det fremgår ikke engang, at hvert enkelt studie skal være repræsenteret i studienævnet. Hvis dette er tilfældet, kan der altså være studienævn med stor magt over et studies fremtid, som ikke har nogen faglig indsigt i det pågældende studie. Det synes vi grundlæggende er helt forkert. 

Vi mener, at vejen frem mod et godt universitet indebærer mere inddragelse af de studerende, ikke mindre. CBS har ansvaret for at uddanne en masse studerende, både nu og i fremtiden. Mange studerende føler, at CBS igennem deres studietid er blevet et grundlæggende dårligere sted at læse. De studerende bliver nedprioriteret gang på gang i forsøget på at skabe et universitet med studier, som kan placeres i kasser, frem for studier, der understøtter faglighed og sociale fællesskaber. Vi ønsker studier, som kun bliver bedre i fremtiden, og vi mener, at de studerende skal have mulighed for at være med til at træffe beslutninger om, hvad "bedre" indebærer. 

Vi ved, at der er studenterrepræsentation igennem Quality boardet, men vi mener, at der vil være for stor afstand mellem denne og studienævnet. Desuden er det ikke sikkert, at studienævnet vil forstå de bekymringer der bliver viderebragt, hvis studienævnet ikke har nogen faglig viden om studiet. 

Den nuværende struktur af studienævnene sikrer ligeledes, at studier med en direkte overbygning har gode muligheder for at samarbejde på tværs af bachelor- og kandidatniveauerne. Mange af disse studier, og de tilhørende nuværende studienævn, lægger vægt på, at kandidaten bygger oven på det lærte stof fra bacheloruddannelsen. På denne måde sikres en stor progression, hvilket løfter det faglige niveau betydeligt. Denne struktur og koordination vil blive besværliggjort, hvis studienævnet for bacheloren og kandidaten ikke længere er det samme. 

Fra forslaget forstår vi, at der både ønskes, at studiernes niveau og faglige kompetencer skal være mere strømlinede, samtidig med at det skal blive nemmere at kende forskel på de forskellige uddannelser. Der er forslag om, at 90 ECTS ud af bacheloruddannelsens 180 ECTS skal være fælles fag. Det, mener vi, vil være ødelæggende ikke kun for de enkelte studier, men også for CBS som universitet. Vi ønsker ikke at læse "CBS", men at læse HA(mat.), International Business, HA(psyk.) eller en af de andre CBS-uddannelser, som vi er glade for. Vi er og vil aldrig blive interesserede i præcis det samme. Vi har og vil aldrig have de samme forudsætninger. At strømline halvdelen af vores fag vil ikke kun være i modstrid med at gøre det nemmere at kende forskel på CBS-uddannelserne. Det vil også sænke det faglige niveau på alle uddannelserne, da der skal undervises på en måde, hvor alle kan være med i stedet for at kunne tage udgangspunkt i de studerenes kompetencer. Vi har hver især noget, vi er gode til, og i vores studievalg repræsenteres vores interesser. Vi frygter, at en strømlining vil få mange studerende til at søge væk fra CBS og i stedet vælge uddannelser på andre institutioner, som rent faktisk underviser i det, de er interesseret i. 

Vi håber meget, at vores bekymringer vil blive taget med i jeres overvejelser, da vi også i fremtiden ønsker at have et CBS, som vi vil anbefale til fremtidige studerende.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To the CBS Board, 

We are writing to you regarding a significant concern regarding the proposals to change the study board structure at CBS. As students, we seek the best possible education within the competencies we have chosen our studies for. We desire education that imparts as many skills at as high a level as possible within the constraints of study time and starting competencies. We want education that enhances our academic progression and prepares us well for a career with many years in the workforce. We believe we currently have such education. We are concerned about potentially losing this education. 

In many ways, students would naturally have a positive bias towards their own field of study. However, as students, we also have insights and understanding of our studies, the subjects, and what makes a good programme, like no one else have. We know better than anyone what works and what could be improved. It is nearly impossible to find a student who does not have an opinion about their study. These opinions, suggestions for improvement, criticisms, and praises, we currently have a forum to discuss. This forum is the study boards. We have the opportunity to run for election, to be involved, and be heard. 

This opportunity will not be guaranteed if the study boards are merged in the proposed manner. It is not even clear if each individual study programme will be represented in the study board. If this is not the case, there could be study boards with significant power over a study's future without any academic insight into that particular programme. We find this to be fundamentally wrong. 

We believe that the path to a good university involves more student involvement, not less. CBS is responsible for educating a multitude of students, both now and in the future. Many students feel that CBS has become a fundamentally worse place to study  during their time here. Students are consistently deprioritized in the attempt to create a university with programmes that can be neatly categorized rather than supporting academic excellence and social communities. We want programmes that will only get better in the future, and we believe that students should have the opportunity to be involved in decisions about what "better" entails. 

We are aware that there is student representation through the Quality Board, but we believe that there will be too much distance between this and the Study Board. Moreover, it is not certain that the Study Board will understand the concerns being conveyed if they do not have any academic knowledge about the program.

The current structure of the study boards also ensures that programmes with a direct masters program have good opportunities to collaborate across bachelor's and master's levels. Many of these programmes, and their respective study boards, emphasize that the masters degree builds on the knowledge from the bachelors's degree. This ensures significant progression, which significantly elevates the academic level. This structure and coordination will be hindered if the study board for the bachelor's and master's programs are no longer the same. 

From the proposal, we understand that there is a desire for both the level and the academic competencies of the studies to be more streamlined, while making it easier to differentiate between the different programs. There are proposals suggesting that 90 ECTS out of the bachelor's 180 ECTS should be common courses. We believe this will be detrimental not only to the individual studies but also to CBS as a university. We do not want to study "CBS," but rather HA(mat.), International Business, HA(psyk.), or one of the other CBS programs that we are passionate about. We are not and will never be interested in exactly the same things.  Each of us have our strengths, and our interests are represented in our choice of study. We fear that streamlining will lead many students to seek alternatives to CBS and choose programmes at other institutions that actually teach them what they are interested in.  

We sincerely hope that our concerns will be taken into consideration in your deliberations, as we also wish to have a CBS in the future that we would recommend to prospective students.