Student complaints
Student complaints
What should you be aware of?
You can normally complain about all matters concerning university business, if you are a party in the matter. Please first bring the matter to the attention of a teacher, your counterpart in the disagreement, or to the student counselors at your study. In many cases this can resolve misunderstandings, and it is at least an opportunity to get a detailed explanation of the conditions that you may be unhappy with.
Below, you can learn about the most common types of complaints, how you file a complaint, and who you need to send your complaint to.
There are three basic types of information that must always be clearly stated in a complaint: who, what and why.
Who is filing a complaint
Include your full name, programme of study, your current semester, your address and e-mail address. If you have a Danish CPR number, please include this as well. It is also important that you send your complaint from your AAU Student mail, as all written communication between you and AAU must be secure.
If the complaint is from more than one student, all students who are part of the complaint must sign it.
What the complaint concerns
In principle, the receiver of your complaint does not know what you are complaining about. In order to avoid confusion, it is important that you clearly state this information. For example, the following should clearly appear in complaints about examinations:
- Which exam is being complained about?
- What is the purpose of the complaint (complaint about legal issues, the foundation of the examination, the examination process, the assessment or other?)
- The date of the examination.
- The date of the publication of the grade (in the case of written exams).
- The name of the examiner and, if relevant, the external examiner.
Please note that you must write a separate inquiry for each type of complaint. Should you want to complain about both the project supervision and the examination, it is important that you produce two separate complaints since these two types of complaints will be processed by two separate administrative units.
The purpose of the complaint
When receiving a complaint, the university often procures statements from examiners, study boards, and others in order to address the issue. To ensure the best possible foundation for determining the case, it is important that you substantiate your complaint as precisely and detailed as possible and preferably with examples. If you believe a legal mistake has been made, this should appear clearly from your complaint.
You must file your complaint as soon as possible, and usually no later than two to four weeks after the date of the matter, which your complaint concerns. The deadline for complaints concerning exams is two weeks from the date when the exam grade is announced.
Do you have questions about your options or rights, feel free to contact your study secretary or your study board. You are also welcome to contact AAU Student Guidance.
Who should you contact?
Who you in each specific case must submit your application to, depends on what you want to complain about, and which faculty you belong to. Below, you can see who to contact, if you wish to complain about...
Do you wish to complain about e.g. legal matters, the basis of examination, the exam procedure or the assesment of an exam?
ENG, TECH, MEDICINE, HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES
Submit your complaint to Secretariat and Educational Law – no later than 2 weeks after the assessment has been announced.
Do you wish to complain about project supervision?
ENG, TECH, MEDICINCE
Submit your complaint to the head of studies.
HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES
Submit your complaint to The Study Board (addressed to the head of studies).
Do you wish to complain about teaching?
ENG, TECH, MEDICINE
Submit your complaint to the head of studies.
HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES
Submit your complaint to The Study Board (addressed to the head of studies).
Do you wish to appeal a university decision? This concerns both decisions regarding complaints and decisions regarding exemptions, and concerns both complaints about formal errors, e.g. incompetence or the lack complience with deadlines, as well as other complains.
ENG, TECH, MEDICINE, HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES
If a case is not decided fully in the complainant’s favor, and the decision is written and appealable, the decision must be accompanied by instructions on how to appeal. These instructions will state to whom an appeal should be directed. Complaints about credit transfer decisions are particularly addressed below.
In some cases it is only possible to make a complaint about legal issues, in other words whether the case is processed according to current law and other administrative law.
Do you wish to complain about credit transfer decisions?
ENG, TECH, MEDICINE, HUMANITIES, SOCIAL SCIENCES
A credit transfer decision is a decision regarding academic matters.
A complaint about the professional decision is processed by either the board for credit transfer or the qualifications board.
- Complaint to the qualifications board should be addressed to Secretariat and Educational Law within four weeks after you have been informed of the decision.
- Complaint to the board for credit transfer should be addressed to Secretariat and Educational Law within two weeks after you have been informed of the decision.
- A complaint about legal issues should be addressed to Secretariat and Educational Law within two weeks after you have been informed of the decision.