As a student, you have the opportunity to apply for a dispensation from the rules during your study programme if special conditions occur, e.g. if you need an extra attempt to take an exam or if you need to retake a semester.
Your dispensation application must always be substantiated, and you must submit the appropriate documentation for the exceptional circumstance/s.
Your dispensation application will be determined on the basis of a specific, individual assessment. The ruling will be based on the rules of the programme, including legislation and guidelines at Business Academy Aarhus.
Contact the student counsellors if you are in doubt or want supervision on whether you can apply for a dispensation and how best to substantiate it.
What should a dispensation application include?
The basis for granting a dispensation, e.g. an additional exam attempt, requires that there are exceptional circumstances in accordance with the Ministerial Order for Examinations no. 863 of 14/06/2022, § 4, subsection 4.
As a general rule, three conditions must be present in order for an event to be defined as exceptional and for these circumstances to provide grounds for a dispensation:
- An exceptional circumstance is defined as something unexpected and is usually acute so that it is not possible to plan your way out of it.
- The exceptional circumstance must have arisen around the time of the examination period, so that it had an impact on the examination for which the dispensation for an extra examination attempt is being sought.
- As a general rule, it must be possible to document the exceptional circumstance.
Exceptional circumstance that will provide grounds for a dispensation
An exceptional circumstance must always be documented, and examples of circumstances that typically provide grounds for being granted a dispensation could be, for example:
- If you are or have been ill around the time of the exam and you can document your illness.
- If you have a known or chronic illness and an acute and unexpected deterioration occurs around the time of the exam.
- Serious illness or death in your immediate family. Immediate family are parents, siblings, spouse or boyfriend and children.
- Death of other people who you are close to. If your ability to study and your ability to take an exam are affected by the death of a person close to you and they are not immediate family, you must have documentation in the form of a doctor's certificate. Your doctor must document how the death affected you.
The list is not exhaustive, and there will always be an individual assessment which forms the basis for the ruling.
If you are able to write or phone in sick for your exam and document your illness to your programme's administrative coordinator you must always do this. Then you will not need to apply for a dispensation but will be registered as sick for the exam and will be automatically assigned a sickness/re-examination.
Unexceptional circumstance that typically does not provide grounds for dispensation
A frequent or habitual circumstance will not normally provide grounds for being granted a dispensation, just as ordinary life events are generally not considered exceptional.
The following list has examples that typically do not provide grounds for a dispensation (the list is not exhaustive):
- A known and/or chronic disease
- Ordinary life events such as moving, divorce, a break-up etc.
- All types of (extra)work
- All types of holidays
- That the subject or exam was difficult and/or many students failed the exam for which you wish to apply for a dispensation
- That public transport is delayed or there is a traffic queue.
What documentation do we need?
In order for us to be able to take into account any exceptional circumstances in our processing of your application for dispensation, you must submit documentation that can substantiate the circumstance(s) that you consider to be exceptional. You must also state that the exceptional circumstance has had an impact on the exam for which you are applying for a dispensation for an extra attempt – there must be a time overlap. The documentation that you could submit can be for example, a doctor's certificate documenting the exceptional circumstances in relation to the exam for which you are applying for a dispensation, so that there is a connection between your application and the documentation you submit.
If you are applying for a dispensation for an exceptional circumstance that can be documented with the help of a doctor's certificate - read more about documentation requirements in:
Requirements for a doctor's certificate (pdf)
The documentation you send has to be in pdf-format.
How do I apply?
You must complete the relevant dispensation application via one of these links:
Application for dispensation for an extra exam attempt
Other dispensation applications
Your documentation material must be sent to dispensation@eaaa.dk and will only be processed if we have received the dispensation application via one of the above links.
When will you get an answer?
You will receive a written response to your application for dispensation via Digital Post.
In most cases, you'll get an answer within about 3 weeks.
Do you need help?
If you have technical questions for dispensation applications, please contact us at dispensation@baaa.dk.
If you want supervision on whether you can apply for a dispensation and how best to substantiate it, you can contact our student counsellors
