Dispensation

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)

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”).

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

If you have completed a Master’s degree, you can generally only apply for admission to a new programme if there are vacant spots available. If there are more applicants with a Master’s degree than available spots in a programme, applications are prioritized based on the applicants' grade point average from the qualifying examination.

You may be granted a dispensation if we assess that, due to exceptional circumstances, you are unable to work within your field and can no longer use your completed Master’s degree in the labour market. The university interprets this narrowly in accordance with guidelines from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science, meaning it can be challenging to obtain a dispensation.

You cannot be granted a dispensation based on:

• Unemployment, a desire for a new education, or a career change.

Application deadline

15 March at 12 noon.

You must upload the following documents to your application:

• A completed dispensation form.
• Proof of your completed Master’s degree.
• Documentation of exceptional circumstances, such as a medical certificate, medical records, statements from a psychologist or psychiatrist, references from former employers, or an assessment of your working capacity.

If you are granted a dispensation

If you are granted a dispensation from the Master’s degree rule, your application will be assessed on an equal footing with other applicants.

Deadline extensions

This type of dispensation is for applicants who have experienced exceptional circumstances, such as a sudden severe illness or an accident, and have therefore missed a deadline.

You are encouraged to contact us as soon as possible after the missed deadline.

Illness

You can only be granted a dispensation for a missed deadline if you can document that it was impossible for you to meet the deadline. For instance, if an accident or sudden severe illness prevented you from completing an application before the deadline.

If your missed deadline is due to illness, we emphasize:

• that there is a clear and direct connection between the described circumstances and the deadline.
• that the illness was of such a nature that you were unable to meet the deadline.
• that you were unable to plan around the situation, for example, by applying early or seeking help from your network in cases of known, prolonged illnesses.

Illness or death in the immediate family

In cases of serious illness or the death of an immediate family member, you must provide documentation of how your own health was affected by your relative’s circumstances. It is insufficient to document the relative’s situation, though such documentation (e.g., a death certificate) can be included as supplementary evidence.

The following are not considered exceptional circumstances and cannot justify a deadline extension:

• Forgetfulness, busyness, or ignorance of deadlines.
• Changed plans.
• Travel or study abroad.
• Your own IT issues.
• Minor illnesses such as the flu.
• Circumstances affecting a large group of people, such as COVID-19.

Documentation for your application

When applying, you must attach the following:

• Completed dispensation form
• Documentation of the extraordinary circumstance, such as medical certificates, assessments, medical records, death certificates, police reports, etc.