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Dispensation

You can find information about each type of dispensation below.

Please be aware that you must upload al documentation to your application on www.optagelse.dk.

No qualifying exam (Special permission)

Application deadline: 15 March, 12:00 noon at www.optagelse.dk.

What is special permission?

If you do not hold a qualifying exam, you can apply for a special permission.
Special permission is granted based on an individual assessment of whether you have educational qualifications comparable to an upper secondary school exam.

If you are granted special permission, you are not guaranteed a student place but your application will be assessed on equal terms with other applicants in quota 2. You must still meet the specific admission requirements for each programme.
It is not possible to have your application assessed in quota 1 since you do not have a convertible grade point average (GPA).

How do you assess my application?

The application is only assessed based on your documented educational qualifications, for instance:

  • Relevant education such as post-secondary or higher level education
  • Written production such as a bachelor’s thesis or written projects in upper secondary school
  • General upper secondary school courses

How do I apply?

When you apply you must upload the following to your application:

  • Application for dispensation (you can use the form below)
  • Documentation for your passed educational elements such as:
    • Diplomas
    • Transcripts and diplomas for your upper secondary education
    • Course descriptions
    • Documentation for written production (this may appear from your diplomas)

Specific admission requirements

Application deadline: 15 March, 12:00 noon at www.optagelse.dk.

When is this type of dispensation relevant for me?

This is relevant for you if you do not fulfill a specific admission requirement but have academic qualifications comparable to the specific requirement.

If possible, we strongly recommend that you have your qualifications assessed by VUC (IKV), if you think that you have qualifications equivalent to one or more of the specific requirements. Unfortunately, this assessment is only available in Danish.

If you are granted dispensation, it will only be valid for your applications to Aarhus University and only for the programmes you have applied for. 

Documentation

If you have an IKV certificate, you do not need to apply for dispensation. Simply upload the certificate to your application at www.optagelse.dk.

In all other cases, you must upload the following to your application:

  • Application for dispensation (you can use the form below)
  • Documentation for the academic qualifications, for instance:
  • Diplomas, certificates or test results (including course descriptions and information about the examination type and duration of the course).

Quota 2

We recommend that you look at the quota 2 criteria for your desired programme(s). If you are granted dispensation from a specific requirement, you will not receive a grade in the subject. The subject will, however, still be used in calculating your quota 2 grade point average, thus possibly lowering it.

You can find information about the specific admission requirements and quota 2 criteria at http://bachelor.au.dk/en/ (you must choose the desired programme and the subsection “admission requirements”).

Special circumstances / Dispensation from a quota 1 grade requirement

Application deadline: 15 March, 12:00 noon at www.optagelse.dk.

When can I apply for this dispensation?

This type of dispensation is relevant if you were affected by special circumstances during your qualifying exam. It is also relevant if you do not fulfill a quota 1 grade requirement due to special circumstances.
This dispensation type only applies to applications that can be assessed in quota 1.

How do you assess my application?

We assess whether it is documented that special circumstances influenced your qualifying exam/GPA significantly.
If your application for dispensation is granted, you are not guaranteed admission to the programme you applied for. 

Documentation

You must upload the following to your application:

  • Application for dispensation (you can use the form below)

Documentation for the special circumstances (both the circumstances and how they affected your GPA, for example:

  • Doctor’s, psychologist’s or psychiatrist’s notes or medical records in the case of your own or a close relative’s long-term disease
  • Statement(s) from specialists in the case of dyslexia or dyscalculia testing or disabilities
  • Preliminary marks from your qualifying exam or Lower secondary school diploma (can be relevant, if the special circumstances started by the end of lower secondary school)
  • Statement from student counsellor or principal at your previous school

The Master’s degree rule

Application deadline: 15 March at 12:00 on www.optagelse.dk.

The restriction on double education has been repealed and the Master’s degree rule has been reinstated from the summer intake 2020.

This means that if you have completed a Master’s degree, your application will be considered last for a student place after all other qualified applicants. You will therefore only be offered a student place if there are available student places for the Bachelor’s programme after all other qualified applicants have been offered a student place.
The rule applies to all Master’s degrees equivalent to a Danish Master’s degree.
If there are more applicants who have completed a master’s degree than available student places, the student places are allocated to the applicants with the highest GPA.

Dispensation

It is possible to apply for a dispensation from the Master’s degree if you can document special circumstances.

Special circumstances could be if you are no longer capable of working within the area of your former programme. Unemployment or a change in interests are not considered special circumstances and will not grant you a dispensation.

Documentation

When you apply for dispensation, you must upload a dispensation application (you can use the form below) along with all documentation for the circumstances you want us to consider.  

Relevant documentation will typically include:

  • Master’s degree diploma and other certificates
  • Documentation showing that you are no longer capable of carrying out your profession , for example medical reports

Extension of the application deadline or documentation deadline

Usually, it is not possible to submit an application or documentation to your application after the given deadlines.

We only grant dispensation in the case of special circumstances such as unexpected and urgent serious illness around the time of the deadline. The circumstances must be documented with a doctor’s note or similar documentation.

The following are not considered special circumstances:

  • Delays
  • Oversight of deadline
  • Lacking knowledge of the deadlines
  • Travelling
  • IT- or logon problems.

You must contact us as soon as possible after the exceeded deadline.

How to apply

You must contact us at ba.admission@au.dk for further instructions.

You can use the application form below

Application forms

When you apply for dispensation, you can fill out a special form.

Deadline

Please note, that the deadline is 15 March at 12:00 noon.

How to apply

You must upload your application for dispensation at optagelse.dk together with your application for enrollment. We must not receive your application by e-mail.

Remember to save the data in the form before you upload it.