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Formal requirements for academic regulations

Formal requirements for academic regulations

The legal hierarchy

Acts of parliament, ministerial orders, rules and strategies all form part of a hierarchy. No rule may ever contravene a rule higher up in this hierarchy. For instance, AU’s rules about exams may not conflict with the Ministerial Order on Examinations and Tests in University Programmes. This means that the academic regulations must comply with all the rules higher up in the hierarchy.

  • Acts of parliament: are issued by the Danish Parliament. The University Act is an example of an act applying to academic regulations.
    • Ministerial orders: are issued by the minister on the basis of the provisions of the University Act. The Ministerial Order on Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programmes at Universities and the Ministerial Order on Examinations and Tests in University Programmes are examples of the ministerial orders applying to academic regulations.
      • AU rules: are issued by Aarhus University and cover e.g. rules on on-site examinations.
        • Faculty policies and strategies: e.g. faculty regulations on project placements.
          • Guidelines for boards of studies: for instance rules about the scope of Master’s theses.
            • Academic regulations: e.g. rules on first-year exams.

Acts, rules and ministerial orders

All acts and ministerial orders can be found (in Danish) at www.retsinformation.dk, which is the official and public point of access to the rules of law in Denmark.

Outdated acts are marked ‘historisk’ (historical) in a green box at the top of the page. The latest version of outdated acts can be found in the menu on the right. Please remember that subsequent amendments may appear from the column on the right (Senere ændringer i forskriften), even if an act is not marked ‘historisk’.

Acts of parliament

Ministerial orders

Concerning exams, credit transfers and grading

Applicable to full-time degree programmes

Applicable to part-time degree programmes

Applicable to degree programmes targeting upper-secondary education

Other rules:

  AU’s rules

Faculty principles and guidelines

The faculties also adopt local principles and guidelines for their work with the academic regulations.  

Arts

The overviews for the faculties are under construction.  

Other guidelines

The Bologna process

The Bologna process is not part of the legal hierarchy, but academic regulations at AU must live up to the agreements of the Bologna process because Denmark is part of this European collaboration, the aim of which is to create a shared framework for programmes of higher education in Europe. 

ECTS

The use of ECTS credits has been compulsory in all programmes of higher education in Denmark since 2001.

ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System. The ECTS system is an international system. One year of full-time study is the equivalent of 60 ECTS credits. In other words, the number of ECTS credits indicates the standard workload expected for a course or degree programme.

In a joint European context, this means that the expected workload for a typical full-time student is between 1,500 and 1,800 hours per year of study in order to achieve the academic objectives of their programme. When drawing up academic regulations, departments must ensure that the student’s workload and the academic objectives of the courses concerned match the number of ECTS credits stated.

Read more about ECTS. 

Changes to existing degree programmes

Changes to existing academic regulations can be made in accordance with the Memorandum on adjustments to academic regulations. 

Revised 19.12.2025