Dear UvA Student,

We have received many complaints from students about exams that are still scheduled in person for the exam week of block 2, while Covid cases in the Netherlands are at an all-time high at the moment, at nearly 25.000 cases every day. 

This means that entire courses with hundreds of students will have to sit in a room for multiple hours at a time in order to take these exams. Additionally, while the 1.5-meter-distance rule might be enforced inside the exam hall, before and after the exams, this rule is nearly impossible to ensure.

As students do not want to waste their one resit opportunity, or, in case there is no resit option, avoid receiving a 1 or NAV on their exam, they want to attend their exam under all circumstances. This has led to students attending their exams even when they are feeling sick, or after people around them have tested positive for Covid-19. At various other universities, for example at the HvA or the VU, there have been Covid-19 outbreaks as a result of in-person exams or mandatory in-person workgroups

We strongly believe that the UvA should reevaluate the current situation surrounding in-person exams, as the University has the responsibility to provide a safe environment for students. We believe it is reckless and simply unacceptable to put students in a situation where they have to choose between their own and their peers' safety and their academic success. 

We proposed the following two options to the executive board, and by signing this petition, you will help us signify the importance and signal your support.

1. Offer students with Covid-related symptoms or other Covid-related reasons for absence the possibility to take the exam simultaneously online.

For exams that are still scheduled in person, students that either are infected with Covid, show Covid-related symptoms, or need to stay home for other Covid-related reasons, for example having to quarantine or having to wait for a test result, should be given the possibility to take the exam online. 

Sometimes, students are given such a possibility to take their exam online, given they provide proof of a positive Covid-test at least 5 days in advance. However, symptoms are often shown only a few days after infection, at which point the T-5 days mark has already passed. Additionally, this does not help those students that only find out about their infection less than 5 days before the exam or that show symptoms very close to the time of their exam (e.g. the morning of).

2. Offer an additional resit possibility before the normal resit and closer to the original exam date for students that could not attend the exam due to Covid-related issues.

If the first two solutions are not an option in some cases, and if the exam, for some reason, has to take place on-site, students need to be offered a second resit option, to avoid the risk of failing the only resit option there is, and thus then failing the course. This second resit option is for those students who could not attend the original exam due to Covid-related reasons (e.g. symptoms, infection, quarantine, etc.) and should also be offered closer to the original date of the exam, to make it easier for these students.