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UvA malfunction: ‘Digital education does not offer the security of physical education’

The Amsterdam student union ASVA is relieved that the malfunction at the University of Amsterdam, which prevented thousands of students from taking an online exam this morning, has been resolved. But they are also critical. “We expected the UvA to accommodate the students. For example by offering an extra resit for the exam that they now have to catch up”, says ASVA chairman Maarten van Dorp.

This morning, some of the students who were ready to take the digital exam could not log in due to a malfunction. After four hours resolved the malfunction. According to the university, it seems to be a one-off problem and tomorrow’s exams and the rest of the week can take place.

Stress for students

This is good news for first-year student Lieke Groskamp from Heerhugowaard. “Otherwise, I feel like I would have wasted a lot of time learning in recent weeks.” She is studying business administration at the UvA and was confronted with the outage this morning. “The fact that programs didn’t work caused a lot of stress.”

“This is a good example of digital education that cannot offer the security of physical education,” says Van Dorp of the ASVA. “We understand that what happened for the university is also very unpleasant, but we especially want students not to suffer from this disruption.”

Criticism of digital education

Earlier, the student union also protested against online education. Students would feel lonely and the quality of education would be at risk. Students are also concerned about their privacy because they use surveillance-sofware being watched.

When missed exams can be made up differs per study program. The UvA has announced that they want to schedule these as soon as possible and that students will be notified.

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