As a student union, our main remit is to monitor and contribute to the development of the university’s educational programmes and the conditions for studying there. We do this, amongst other things, through our student rights organisation, operation.

Students at all levels of study can contact the student union’s representative if they require legal support in their dealings with the university. Through the student rights survey, we gain concrete insights into areas for development and improvement to ensure an even better education at Södertörn University. For the sake of both the educational programme and the individual student, it is important that SöderS continually evaluates how it disseminates information regarding the student rights verksamheten, so that students who need it receive the support they deserve and require.

I Student rights lawrelationship2024 We report here on the student rights cases received and handled by SöderS’s student and doctoral student ombudsman during the verksamhet academic year 2023/24. In total, there were 116 cases, which represents an increase of 21 % compared with the previous year.

SöderS recommendations

During the 2023/24 academic year, the most common areas in which students sought guidance were as follows:

• Examination (35 matters)
• Physical and psychosocial study and work environment (25 matters)
• Discrimination, harassment and other victimisation (15 cases)

Based on these, SöderS makes the following recommendations to Södertörn University:

ATT the university is strengthening its work to improve the student working environment through active measures to promote equal rights and prevent discrimination and victimisation.

ATT programmes and subjects work on clarifying the course requirements and expectations of student performance at the start of the course. 

ATT the higher education institution is working to ensure that its obligations regarding examinations and grade reporting are complied with, and provides teachers with the conditions in their work environment to ensure this is met.