My class list and some commentary on European Union higher education
Wherein my course list is finalized and I learn about "SU"
For the curious among you, here are the final courses I have selected for study this fall. (Titles link to the syllabi. Names connect to LinkedIn.)
Critical Cases in Environmental Social Governance (ESG) and Sustainable Investments
Krisjan JespersenStrategic Risk Leadership: Engaging a world of risk, uncertainty, and the unknown
Torben Juul AndersenPerspectives in Strategic Brand Management
Sylvia von Wallpach
(@Uncle Walter, note that these have changed a bit since my original email to you!)
I have been in business school for 2 years (part-time) and this is the first academic term where every class I take is an elective. I am stoked.
Interestingly enough, even though I am taking the equivalent of a full course-load, I only have one class meeting this week, my first week of class. (More on the weirdness of the academic scheduling practices below.)
How Design Creates Value - which falls in the marketing discipline - meets this Wednesday 10:45 am to 2:15 pm… I don’t think I have ever looked forward to sitting in class for 3.5 hours this much. In fact, I am taking this class despite the fact that UW told me I could not receive credit for it because it “didn’t have enough business content”. How could I not take a design/ marketing/ business class in COPENHAGEN, basically the design capital of the world?!
The way academics works here is different than how we do it in the States in many ways. Since I’ve felt increasingly critical of the higher education system in the US, this foray into education abroad has created some good grounds for contemplation. (Don’t get me wrong, there are a LOT of things we do well! But, we’ve got some improvements to make.)
Schedules
The overall academic course schedule here is not structured in any way. As in: No class (at the graduate level at least) meets the same time, the same days of the week. We know the entire semester’s worth of class meeting times from the start, but each week it is entirely different.
I believe the class meetings are largely determined by the professor’s preference and also, likely, resource availability. Overall as a system, it actually works better than you might think. Perhaps it makes the scheduling harder for them…. But I am not sure it is any more difficult than what our academic teams go through putting schedules together and doling out resources at UW.
There are two cultural backdrops to this scheduling-style that help illustrate the reason why I think it may be done this way.
Work-life balance… The Danish work week is officially 37 hours per week. Most offices and service providers close at 2 pm on Fridays. Denmark rates among the lowest annual average of hours worked in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Each Dane works an average of 1380 hours per year. If you use a 37 hour work week… that’s about 15 weeks of leave per year.
(And, the average annual income per capita is higher than the US. Average annual income before taxes in Denmark is about 83,000 USD. Compare to the United States at 59,428 USD. Important to note here: the current tax rate in Denmark is 55.9%.)
I think part of the reason academic scheduling is built in this seemingly haphazard way is because professors’ work-life balance is prioritized.
Student responsibility… Culturally, students are expected to maintain jobs while they are at university. The schedule is built with the expectation that full-time students will also be working multiple days each week. I think the varied days are somewhat in part to make sure students don’t have to miss class as much and there is flexibility in how their work schedule can be organized.
Not sure if I’ll end up liking this varied week to week changing schedule thing, but I am excited to try it. And, I like what it flows from: more balance in people’s lives and not living to work, but working to live.
Attendance and grades
Another huge difference in how academics work here: you are only graded on one exam or final assignment. And, attendance or participation in class is not at all a part of your final grade.
As someone who is horrible at exams, part of me hates this. (Thankfully all my classes have oral defense or written papers as the final assessment. Phew.)
However, I really love the idea that the professor has to be good at teaching to get the students to attend class. If they aren’t a compelling lecturer, if they are disorganized, if they don’t prepare to actively engage with students… You, the student, don’t have to waste your time listening to them drone on. I just really appreciate how this attendance policy kind of flips the tables in terms of motivation for professors. Does it make the professors better at teaching? Does it mean that the students who do show up actually want to be there? Time will tell. But, I’m excited at least about the reversed incentives.
I also kind of like that the academic grading is built like a real professional project: there is only one final deliverable. (Note: I would hate this system if it were a chemistry class or calculus! I really appreciated homework and participation grades for those subjects.) But, for a case-based class where you are preparing students for vocations in a project-driven world, it makes a lot of sense.
Oh, yeah. And it’s free. And you get a stipend.
The final and perhaps most crucial difference between the EU system and the US: they don’t pay at all to attend school. And, they actually get a cost of living stipend each month (based on certain conditions/ parameters).
The Danish students I have talked to so far still feel somewhat stressed about making ends meet each month. The stipend is small. (For example, my rent is 9000 DKK right now and the highest monthly “SU” or student stipend amount is 6820 DKK.) But, it is something. And, if the academic calendar and expectations are built so that you can hold down a job at the same time, maybe after college most students can come out at $0 balance or even be in the positive. I tried to find some statistical comparisons on student loan debt in the US versus in Denmark, but couldn’t get any hard numbers. Safe to assume that Denmark is winning?!
I wouldn’t vote for all higher education in the US being absolutely free. However, at its worst, the way universities hand out loans in the US is a scam and takes advantage of young, ignorant 18 year olds. At its best, it is an inefficient system that doesn’t incentivize education efficiently and doesn’t lend to economic growth the way it should.
Fully funded university education isn’t flawless, but it is thought provoking. If you want to read more on it, I thought this article had some helpful thoughts on the Danish education funding and how students interact with it and how it is funded.
I don’t have any photos to footnote this entry, but I took a couple videos on my bike ride on Saturday. I went for a ride to Amager Strandpark, hoping to find a quiet spot on the beach to read my book and have a snack. And, I kept passing by giants parties! Copenhagen is partying and drinking all the time. If I liked partying with strangers, I totally would have joined! But, I enjoyed just smiling like a goofball at all these people as they drank and danced at 5:30 pm on a Saturday in the glorious sunshine.