On December 21, more than 150 students in the Natural Science base year will write a hall exam in chemistry at Malmö University.

Students are concerned about the risk of corona infection when so many people gather in the same place.

-It's three days before Christmas Eve.

My father is over 70 years old and I will sit in a room with over 40 people, says Marie Jansson who is studying the base year.

The students have had conversations with the university management but believe that they have not received an answer to the question why the examination does not take place digitally.

-I know that there are several other subjects at the university that have a digital exam, but I do not know why they insist that we write the entrance exam in the base year, says Svante Berg.

"Get two positive results"

On social media, the chemistry exam has been discussed extensively and a student writes in a Facebook group:

"Write an exam at MAU, get two positive results".

Svante Berg and Marie Jansson understand that cheating can increase in a home exam but are still critical of the decision.

- You have to choose between having an outbreak of corona at the university three days before Christmas Eve and possibly that some students may succeed in cheating.

Then you need to consider what is best, says Marie Jansson.

"Are there parts that can not be done digitally"

Per Hillbur, vice-rector at Malmö University, says that some exams must take place on site.

- We follow the guidelines we have.

A very large part of our business is digitized.

At the same time, there are some parts that cannot be done digitally, says Per Hillbur.

Per Hillbur thinks that measures have been taken to carry out the examination in a safe manner.

- We have a maximum of 30 in each hall.

It is also the case that the exam guards have special protective equipment and there is access to rubbing alcohol, he says.

Per Hillbur understands the students' concerns but believes that there are several factors to take into account.

- We take the students' concerns seriously.

Right now, the spread of infection is very high in Skåne and then there will also be a focus on the steps that must be done on site.

In the second stages of the pandemic, there has been great concern about the quality of education when digitizing parts of it.