Virus exposure must be reported
22 January update:
Employers must, without delay, report exposures of established covid-19 at the workplace as a serious incident to the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
The registration requirement applies even if others did not become infected. The requirement also applies to our students if they have been infected or are at risk of becoming infected on campus. The responsibility follows previous routines for infection tracing, ie. immediate manager reports. For students, the teacher or course coordinator informs the head of department, who then makes a report.
Notification of a serious incident must also be made retroactively. If the report is not made without delay, the Swedish Work Environment Authority and the court can impose penalties. However, the Swedish Work Environment Authority will not report people for prosecution when they have followed what was previously read on their website. In the older version, it was not clear that this applies to all workers, regardless of occupation.
In the event of a confirmed infection (where both parties tested positive) and it occurred at work (where it is assessed as a probable / possible route of infection), it must also be documented in accordance with §11 2018: 4 Infection risks.
Read more:
• Report occupational injury, corinavirus / covid-19.
• Information about a report of a serious incident if an employee has been exposed to the new coronavirus.
Entry to Sweden
Here you find updated information about travel restrictions to Sweden.
Residence permits for international students
28 May Update
The Swedish Migration Agency has replied to a letter from the Association of Swedish Higher Education about residence permits for international students.
In short, the Association is asking for the following:
- possibility to be granted a residence permit for completing studies in Sweden;
- possibility to be granted a residence permit for courses/programmes partly offered as distance learning;
- possibility for newly admitted students to be granted residence permits in Sweden.
The Swedish Migration Agency answer with more information is avalable in Swedish here.
About the Swedish coronavirus strategy
20 April Update
Students might have questions regarding Sweden´s different coronavirus strategy. Here is a link to an interview in English with Dr. Anders Tegnell, Sweden's chief epidemiologist.
Seasonal work
9 April update
The coronavirus also causes absences due to illness among staff in the land-based sectors, and seasonal workers from abroad cannot travel to Sweden. This has led to a short-term, seasonal need for labour in these sectors. To make it possible for students who rely on student finance from CSN to work more hours during the pandemic, the Swedish government has decided to temporarily remove the income limit for 2020. More information is available on the CSN web.
There is an admirable desire among SLU students to help the land-based sectors. For some students this may be an option, for others, it is more difficult. Students who are considering taking on seasonal work before the end of the semester will either need to interrupt their studies or work in parallel. Those who interrupt a course risk not being eligible for a later course. It’s important to be aware of and consider this before deciding to start working.
Students who are looking for seasonal work can be advised to visit http://gronajobb.se/
Work experience courses offer the opportunity to combine a placement with studies (see pdf), but a prerequisite for this is that the duties are qualified ones and that supervision is available. This means specific demands on the employer, the duties and follow-up. If the entry requirements and the course instance for a work experience course need changing, this may require a prior decision by the chair of the programme board.
List of courses.
Examinations
26 March Update
Read more on Teaching online – preparation for Covid-19
Given the circumstances, written examinations are replaced with take-home or digital examinations.
Take-home examinations does not require identification but follows the usual handling of the take-home examinations according to Education planning and administration handbook, Section 8.4.
If a student with a disability has a decision on special learning support, the examiner can allow them extra time for take-home examinations. Read more on Teaching students with an impairment.
For students on a course or programme that requires practical components, programme directors of studies, examiners and course coordinators should move said component or adjust it to distance learning. If this is not possible, SLU will (later on) adjust the length of the course/programme or semester to allow students to meet the degree requirements.
Distance teaching because of the coronavirus – what applies to support and adaptations?
Read more on Teaching students with an impairment.
Student finance
The Swedish Board of Student Finance (CSN) updates its web pages (csn.se) regularly – refer students to them if they have any questions on student finance.
Will there be any reductions or refunds for this spring semester?
6 April update
The university is working hard to make sure that courses and examinations can still be completed through distance teaching. Like all universities in Sweden, SLU will follow our tuition fee policies. This means that there will be no reductions or refunds for this spring semester, as long as there are no major changes to the course syllabus.
Please note that if you choose to discontinue a course in the first three weeks, you are entitled to a full refund. However, before you make this decision, you should make sure that this will not cause any problems with your residence permit or the possibility to finish your degree.
Compulsory course components
While the course syllabus always applies, it is possible to make certain adjustments: offer replacement assignments, schedule an extra opportunity to take compulsory components etc. In cases where students are expected to be active participants, we may need to accept that they are passive.
Deviation from course and programme syllabuses are allowed for the following:
- forms of assessing student performance;
- teaching forms that enable distance teaching in cases, provided it is possible to maintain educational quality;
- when various courses are taught to bring forward theoretic courses, including temporary changes to entry requirements if necessary.
- Temporary decisions to deviate from a course syllabus are made by the examiner after informing and consulting with the programme director of studies and programme board chair in question. The chair of the Board of Education decides whether to change the course period.
Placements
Placements should not be interrupted, but social distancing must be practised. SLU’s priority is that students who have a placement planned for this spring should be able to carry it out. However, this also depends on placements being available.
In addition to placements, some exceptions from distance teaching may be necessary if getting new graduates on to the labour market quickly is of importance to society. For SLU, maintaining operations at the University Animal Hospital is important. This is why we have decided to prioritise making clinical training and placements available to last-year veterinary medicine and animal nursing students.
Encourage students to cycle or drive to their placement instead of taking public transport.
No rent charged for booked classrooms
27 March Update
If a department has booked classrooms for courses with a course code, no rent will be charged for these between 18 March and the date when normal on-campus teaching resumes. However, the rooms should remain booked in Timeedit.
Work environment responsibilities
Who is responsible for a student doing their degree project if part of the work is done off campus?
SLU is responsible. According to the Work Environment Act, students are considered employees at SLU. The place of work where the student is doing their degree project is obliged to provide a safe work environment. There should be an agreement with the provider of a placement as to what applies to the student’s work environment.
