Following outcry over the decision to completely cancel this autumn’s university entrance exam due to the coronavirus, the government opened up the possibility on Thursday of the exam taking place in a limited form, if the Swedish Council for Higher Education can make it work.

Högskolepröv, known in English as the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test, is a standardised non-compulsory test available to anyone and can be used as a way to compete for a place in courses and programmes at Swedish universities.

Tens of thousands of people sit the entrance exam, which is held twice a year.

Earlier this spring and again this month, a decision was taken by the Council for Higher Education to cancel the test due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Public Health Agency’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 people is still in place, and the logistics of socially distancing tens of thousands of people sitting the test and invigilators at different venues in the country was seen as impractical and a safety hazard.

Now Matida Ernkrans, the minister for higher education and learning, says the Council can now make a decision on whether it’s feasible for the test to be carried out in a more limited way.

Source: sverigesradio.se