The higher educational institutions under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science are mostly autonomous and under supervision by the Minister of Higher Education and Science, who have delegated this competence to the Danish Agency of Higher Education and Science. It is the educational institution’s duty to initiate appropriate adaptation measures in relation to a disabled student.
The protection of disabled people and the ban against discrimination on the job market etc. is written in Danish law in: Bekendtgørelse af lov nr.1001 of 24th August 2017 om forbud mod forskelsbehandling på arbejdsmarkedet m.v.[1] The ban against discrimination includes the higher educational institutions and its students.
There is no differentiation between physical or mental disabilities, and there is no limit to which illnesses or conditions are included.
According to the Executive Order on Exams for higher educational institutions:
The term “disabled” should in this context be interpreted as when a student’s illness must be characterized as a disability, if there is anything on the course where the disability has the consequence that the student cannot have the same opportunities as other students.
The institutions have a legal basis to offer students some kind of accommodation to their physical or mental disability to remedy and by that making them equal to other students, without it changing the level of difficulty of the exam.
The institutions have to assess the situation and decide what kind of documentation is necessary so the student can be offered special conditions. From the time where the institution becomes acquainted with the knowledge that the student has a disability, the responsibility and obligation to make adjustments surpasses the institution. Therefore, the student does not need to apply for special accommodations for each exam.
The institution has an obligation to investigate which special accommodations would be appropriate, and they cannot simply reject the application for special accommodations if the students’ suggestions are not possible or appropriate. The students’ suggestion for special accommodations have to be seen as information in the assessment of which accommodations that would be appropriate, and not a limitation of which accommodations that have to be assessed.
The special conditions could be extended time for the exam, a different kind of exam, a special room to have the exam in, writing pen, reading tools, spell-check etc.
If a student wishes to make a complaint over a decision made by an institution about special accommodations, the student has to form a complaint to the Danish Agency of Higher Education and Science if it is about legal matters. The Agency does not have jurisdiction to assess complaints about professional judgement, if the special accommodation is necessary or appropriate. In those matters, the student has to make a complaint to the Council of Appeal on Equal Treatment.
The Danish Agency of Higher Education and Science has sent a letter and a guide on the 5th of May 2020 to the higher educational institutions about the administration of students with disabilities
For more information: https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2017/1001