At least eight students at the University of Ghent had personal belongings stolen as they sat an exam, the university said.
Among the property stolen were jackets and backpacks, as well as laptops containing irreplaceable class notes. The students concerned were in the bio-engineering sciences department at the Coupure in Ghent.
The university administration said that nobody had told the students not to being personal belongings into the exam room – although such a thing would appear to be normal to avoid the possibility of cheating, for example by smuggling in notes. The room where the belongings were left is not covered by CCTV.
The students concerned have been advised to film a police compliant. The university meanwhile has alerted its insurance company, and has advised the students to do likewise.
The administration has also posted notices on university notice boards and intranet asking for the cooperation of other students in reporting anyone trying to sell what might be stolen equipment, as well as in helping provide the students affected with restoring class notes. Other students have been advised not to leave behind valuables of any kind in an unsupervised location.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
