Parts of the education reform to get university students more quickly through their studies has been delayed following substantial protests from both students and universities.

Earlier this year the government passed a reform whose goal is to reduce the average time it took to complete a five-year education by 4.3 months in 2020 – students took on average 6.1 years in 2011.

But students are concerned that reduced opportunities to taking leave, for example, will increase the risk of students failing their studies and limit the opportunity to take internships and study jobs.

READ MORE: Students blockade Copenhagen University over proposals to speed up studies

Delayed reform
Following the protests, further education minister Morten Østergaard (R) said he accepted that the reform was difficult to implement.

“After reading replies to the public consultation, I accept that universities will find it difficult, or even close to impossible, to be ready to implement the reform on September 1 for all students,” Østergaard told Politiken newspaper ahead of the meeting

Østergaard called a meeting of the parties that signed the reform and they have now agreed to only apply the reform to new students starting in the summer of 2014, before rolling it out to all students in the summer of 2015.

Reform’s ambition unchanged
The reform places stricter requirements on how many subjects students have complete each year – 60 ECTS points – which Østergaard said was central to the ambition to get students more quickly through university.

“We are standing by our demand that students need to study full-time, but it’s a big change which is why we’ve decided to implement it in two phases without affecting the actual content or goal of the reform,” Østergaard told DR Nyheder.