Students with permanent health impairments may, upon application, receive academic adjustments for the assessments in their degree program. The prerequisite for this is that the impairment demonstrably affects the student’s ability to perform on the assessment, while the student’s actual academic ability is not fundamentally limited.

How do you submit the request?

The examination committee decides on applications for academic adjustments. The application is submitted informally in the form of a letter and should include the following information:

• the nature of the impairment,
• how this impairment affects the student’s ability to perform in (which type of) assessments,
• what academic adjustments (e.g. extra time) are being requested.

Required Documentation

As a rule, the request must be accompanied by a medical certificate that verifies the information provided in the request in a manner that is understandable and credible to non-medical laypersons. In case of doubt, it is advisable to clarify the specific requirements with us in advance.

The recommended type of academic adjustment should also be specified as precisely as possible. For example, if the request concerns an extension of writing time in written examinations, this should be expressed as a percentage.

Important

Affected students should contact the Department’s examination office as early as possible—ideally immediately after beginning their studies. This allows for clarification well in advance of upcoming exams regarding what type of academic adjustment will be granted in each individual case and who students can contact before a specific exam to discuss the details of the academic adjustment.

• If you fall ill, inform the examiner/supervisor as soon as possible (for written exams before the exams are handed out)

• Please send/bring an original medical certificate within 3 days to the examiner/supervisor

• A meaningful medical certificate should contain the following information
  ● Date of treatment,
  ● Type, start and expected duration of the health impairment(s) and
  ● their effect(s) on the examinee's ability to perform in the specific examination to be taken.

An incapacity to work (AU), which is often certified in practice, is generally just as insufficient as a doctor's note that the examinee was "unfit to take the examination" at the time of the performance review. This applies in particular to all major examinations (including physics and chemistry)