Students’ exams interrupted by minor fire
On Thursday 2 January, several exams at Aarhus BSS were interrupted by a fire in a transformer.
On one of the busiest exam days of the year, a fire unfortunately broke out at Fuglesangs Allé. The fire broke out while several hundred students at Aarhus BSS were busy doing their written exams.
The fire started in a transformer located in a service and waste disposal room in a separate building. Luckily, the fire did not spread to other buildings as the fire brigade were quick to put it out. The fire caused a power cut in the building, which meant that several hundred students were interrupted during their written exams.
When the fire had been extinguished, efforts were made to reestablish the power supply in the building so that the written exams could continue. At first, it looked as if this would not be possible due to the extended power cut period, but out of consideration for the many students who had prepared themselves for the exam, it was decided to try to carry out the exams with a delay.
“This is one of the biggest exam days of the year, and fortunately we have never been in this kind of situation before. For that reason, the fire caused some confusion. Throughout the day, we explored the possibility of compensating for the interruption by extending the duration of the exam. The aim was to ensure the least possible inconvenience for our many students, who had prepared themselves for a written exam,” says Vice-dean Per Andersen.
In the afternoon after a great deal of patience from the students and exam supervisors, it turned out that it was possible to extend the duration of the exam and thus allow the students to complete their exams and hand in their exam papers.
“It seems that most students have handed in their papers, while a small number of students have postponed their exams. We are very sorry about this unforeseen interruption, which we tried to handle in the best way possible. At Aarhus University, we emphasise that exams should be carried out in a way that ensures optimum and uniform conditions for the students. This means that we will be following up on the incident to make sure that this is the case,” says Vice-dean Per Andersen.
All affected students will be kept informed on what will happen in relation to their exams.
