Do you wish to appeal a decision?
If you have received a decision (e.g., a rejection of admission, re-enrolment, an application for exemption, or similar), you have the opportunity to appeal on legal grounds. This means that you may appeal if you believe that the Admissions Office has not followed the rules that apply to the assessment in question. Examples include a missing explanation for a rejection, incorrect legal basis, or lack of party consultation.
You cannot appeal academic assessments or discretionary judgements, but you may appeal if you believe that such assessments were made on an insufficient basis. For example, if you believe that there are documented factors that were not considered during the assessment.
Unsure whether to request reopening of your case or submit an appeal?
If you disagree with the decision or believe we are missing information in your case, but you do not believe that a legal error has occurred, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible so we can review your case again.
If you believe that the applicable rules were not followed during the processing of your case, we encourage you to appeal the decision.
How to submit an appeal
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Before submitting an appeal, we encourage you to read the appeal guidelines carefully. You can find the appeal guidelines at the bottom of your decision letter. You have 14 days from the date you received the decision to appeal to the Admissions Office.
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The decision letter includes references to legislation, rules, and executive orders. Check whether these references are correct. You can find the relevant legislation, rules, and executive orders here: Legal Framework.
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You may appeal legal issues but not academic judgement. This means you may appeal if, for example:
- you believe that the assessment or judgement forming the basis of the decision was carried out on an incorrect or insufficient foundation.
- you believe that there are errors in the references to legislation, rules, or executive orders that may have influenced the decision.
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Your appeal guidelines will tell you how to submit the appeal. There are no specific requirements regarding the format.
What happens after you submit an appeal?
Please note that processing time may be longer for appeal cases. Once the Admissions Office has received your appeal, we will review your case as soon as possible. We will assess whether the original decision complies with the relevant rules and guidelines. For example, if we find that documentation was missing during the original assessment of your application, we will ask you to provide it.
If your appeal is upheld, you will receive a new decision, and the appeal process will end here.
If we maintain our original assessment, the university will issue a statement, which you will have the opportunity to comment on within a minimum deadline of one week. The appeal will then be forwarded to the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science, along with our statement and your comments. The Agency will assess whether AAU’s Admissions Office has complied with the legal requirements when processing your case. This means that they will not consider whether they agree with the outcome (e.g., a rejection of re‑enrolment), but only whether the applicable rules were followed.
If the Agency determines that the Admissions Office has made legal errors during the processing of your case, we will be instructed to correct the error and reassess your case. However, this does not necessarily mean that the final outcome of your case will change.
You can read more about the processing of appeals in the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science’s appeal guidelines for students and applicants.