Dispensations from Rules

If you do not have a qualifying exam from Upper Secondary School that makes you eligible for admission, you can apply for a dispensation. 

On Optagelse.dk you must remember to indicate to us that you apply with a background alternative to a secondary school exam. Sometimes it is also referred to as "special permit". 
Please use the attached application form: Dispensation for qualifying exam.

In your application you must show that you have obtained similar qualifications in other ways.

Your application for dispensation will be assessed by the Academy Admissions Board. The Board will consider your application as a balanced display of your competencies, qualifications and preparation for the study of Glass and Ceramics. 

Required qualifications:
The Academy will process your application and the Admissions Board will place weight on the following criteria of which you must fulfill at least one:

• Academic qualifications in the following subjects: 1) Your first language and literature, 2) English and 3) Mathematics. You must prove skills to the level equivalent to the Danish levels: First language and literature level A (highest level), English level B, and Mathematics level C.
• Vocational qualifications: as a minimum you must prove relevant vocational education and training of a 3 ½ years duration equivalent to the Danish “svendeprøve”. We also place emphasis on relevant professional experience.
  
  

Guideline:
Your application should consist of a motivational letter, a CV and documentation. Examples of your work are not needed as your artistic abilities will be tested during the admission process. 

Your letter of motivation and your CV are equally important. We recommend that you prepare in good time, and that your motivational letter is precise and avoids clichés. We also recommend that you organize your CV in order to give The Academy as clear a picture of your  background as possible. 
Duration of profressional experience is important.

About your application material: 
The Royal Danish Academy  ask you to assemble all application material, which must be uploaded as one single pdf‐file.

Please name you file: DISP + first name + last name + date of birth. Example: “DISPEvaTaylor2604”.
Your file must be uploaded on the application portal www.optagelse.dk as an attachment no later than 15 March at 12 CET.

Your application must be assembled in a way that makes our processing and assessment easy and manageable. Don’t forget your documentation. Example: recommendation from an employer. Applications lacking documentation will not be processed. 

Explanatory notes to the application form: 

1) Letter of motivation: be precise, concrete and explain. No more than 1 page. 
2) There is no recipe for a perfect CV or letter of motivation, but bear in mind that there is a reader at the end. Your information should be relevant, and the layout should help the reader. Illustrations are allowed, but they are not compulsory. No more than 2 pages.
3) If you apply for dispensation on the basis of a combination of academic competencies and relevant work experience, you must show a minimum of: Danish level A (or mother tongue in combination with literature), English level B, and Mathematic level C or the equivalent from abroad. If you finish your school subjects this summer, please make a note of it in the application form.
4) By Vocational Upper Secondary Education (EQF level 4) we usually mean 3,5 year programmes, which leads to a diploma within a certain trade or craft. If you have a diploma as a glassblower or a potter at EQF level 4, you do not need a dispensation, but all other crafts and trades must apply for a dispensation. Please insert diploma and transcript if one has been issued to you. 
5) By “Other vocational training and education” we mean vocational training below level 4 in the European Qualification Framework) topped up with additional education or training.
Please insert diplomas and transcript as documentation. 
6) Your work experience is of vital importance when assessing your application. It has to be of a certain duration as it is during work you build up competencies that might substitute the lacking academic competencies from a qualifying exam.
You should not expect the Board to grant you dispensation if you just finish your vocational training. Internships and extracurricular or voluntary work does not count as vocational experience,
7) Prepatory acivities can be anything, but it should be relevant to the programme, you are aiming at. Example: voluntary work, evening classes, travelling, prepatory courses.
8) Everything that we did not think of. Please be precise and to the point.

Please notice that due to new legislation (January 2022) it is no longer possible to apply for a dispensation for English at level B.

If you have no proof of English proficiency, we recommend that you take a language test.

Pursuent Danish higher education legislation, applicants who have already completed one Master’s degree equivalent of a Danish 2-year Master's can be admitted to a Bachelor degree, a Professional Bachelors degree or a second Master's only in the event of available places.

You can apply for dispensation for multiple degrees if you have experienced exceptional circumstances. If a dispensation is granted, you apply for admission on equal terms with other applicants.

Exceptional circumstances might be that you cannot make use of your current Master degree on the labour market due to reduced functional capacity. Examples: if you are a trained vetenarian, and you develop fur allergy, or if you are a trained surgeon, and you have become disabled.

A desire to change career path or newly developed interests will not be considered exceptional circumstances. Neither does unemployment within specific lines of business.

You need to document that your opportunities of employment are exhausted. The documentation can be statements from doctors, medical records and so forth. Applications without documentation will not be processed.

If we find that your employment opportunities are not exhausted, we cannot grant you a dispensation.

We have no statistics for dispensations in this field. This is mainly due to the fact that the backgrounds of our applicants are dissimilar and individual.

On optagelse.dk you must inform us, if you hold a Master’s degree and of the number of ECTS-point. Diploma and transcript must be uploaded.

Please use the application form: Other dispensations when applying.