Marion Falk, who is 30 and has two small children—Henry, two, and Neah, four—is studying to become a study and career counselor at Umeå University. She thinks the university is not flexible at all regarding the situation of parents with small children. If students miss important components, they fall behind in their studies, which can lead to later supplementary work or, in the worst case, missed study credits that cause study grants to be withdrawn.
Umeå Student Union would like clearer guidelines for which components should be mandatory or not and that exam times are reviewed. Broader perspectives indicate that student parents face systemic issues; if you are a parent of small children and studying, it is difficult to make it work together, perhaps extra difficult for someone who is single. At the national level, there is a rigid picture of who studies, and usually, you see students who are nineteen or twenty years old who have just started studying, so student parents are easily forgotten.
In response, Cathrine Norberg, vice-chancellor for education at the basic and advanced level at Umeå University, acknowledged the concerns. She understands Marion's frustration, but means that there are mandatory components that students must adhere to. She also noted that she cannot comment on individual teachers' setups, but for the most part, if it says in a course plan that you take exams in a certain way, it should be the same for everyone.
It remains unknown what specific measures Umeå University is currently taking to facilitate for parents of small children or how many student parents are enrolled there, and there is no clear timeline for reviewing exam times and guidelines as requested by the student union.