English Bachelor’s Programme Committee 4/20

The fourth meeting of the English Bachelor Programme Committee on 27 August 2020 was rather concise in terms of content. First, we talked about admission criteria for the programme. Some changes were made to the criteria, but the gist of it was that the changes were only “bureaucratic” and nothing actually changed. The admission amounts for Quantum Technology were as follows: 311 applied, of which 70 were admitted and 20 accepted the offer. Thus, we have 20 new kvanttifuksis; welcome to all of you!

Then, we talked a little bit about the schedule of the orientation week. Since some fuksis are in quarantine for having come from abroad, we discussed a later meeting on 10 September so that everyone gets to meet the programme directors and teachers. I was particularly happy that this was taken into consideration!

Lastly, and maybe most interestingly, we talked about the fact that many students in the English BSc programme have been caught cheating, particularly in programming courses (sharing parts of code with friends, for example). We deduced that the stress that comes from high expectations regarding grades and credits must contribute to this. It was also asked if, perhaps, cultural differences are a factor, but I personally don’t really see how that would be the case. In any case, instructions of what is allowed and what is not have to be clearly laid out on MyCourses with examples. Also, emphasizing why learning this stuff is so important and making the contents of the courses more interesting might help, so that students have a better motivation to play fair.