As student at Aalborg University you have good opportunities for going abroad as part of your study programme. 

The first step in the process of preparing a stay at a university abroad is to investigate, where you wish to study. There are several ways to study abroad: via cooperation agreements, Erasmus agreements, outside cooperation agreements.

You can search in the cooperation agreeements on The International Office database. At the webpage of the International Office you can also find guides and information about going abroad via Erasmus agreements and outside cooperation agreements.  As for the latter you can contact your supervisor who often has contacts at universities abroad and in this way investigate if there is a possibility for a stay at a university.

You can also seek guidance at your own study board or the study counsellor.

CREDIT TRANSFER AND PRE-APPROVAL OF CREDIT TRANSFER
If you wish to study at a university abroad you must apply for pre-approval of the study board in due time for the courses you have chosen. Pre-approval means that the study board approves that the stay at the university would replace parts of your normal course of study. Pre-approval for spring semesters must be approved by the study board before November 1 and for fall semesters before May 1. 

When you return from the trip abroad you must apply for credit transfer for the study abroad at your study board. In the application you must document the study activities abroad.

You should use the application form below. See also the study board's procedure for sending out students abroad:

Policy for sending out students abroad
Application for pre-approval for credit transfer and credit transfer
 

OTHER RELEVANT LINKS

www.studyabroadfunding.org
www.legatnet.dk
www.so.dk/studie/legater

STUDENT TRIPS – FUNDING GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURE

Students can apply for full or partial funding of student trips. The application for funding must be addressed to the study board and the student trip must be academically relevant for the student’ s study programme.

THE FOLLOWING PRINCIPLES APPLY FOR THE HANDLING OF APPLICATIONS:

• Student trips are primarily granted to students who have completed no less than two semesters of a given study programme under the study board.
• Domestic travelling may be fully granted whereas travelling abroad can be partially funded.
• Funding applications covering multiple participants can normally only be partially funded.
• Students who have not received funding previously are first priority compared to students who have received grants before.

The applications for funding are administered by the chairman of the study board and the study board secretary. The head of studies can be involved in special cases.

Students who are studying abroad for a semester (with transfer of credits) can get a grant, and students who's articles are accepted at a scientific conference can be financially supported in connection with the participation in the conference.

See the policy for funding here (Danish version).

THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE MUST BE FOLLOWED WHEN APPLYING:

The application must be sent to the study board prior to the student trip. Please send an email to inst.es.sdnvn.eit@es.aau.dk if you wish to apply for funding:

Steps:

1. The application must be sent to the study board prior to the student trip.

2. The application must include information about date(s), campus name, study programme title and semester, name of semester coordinator, project supervisor or teacher. Furthermore, the purpose of the student trip must be stated. A budget describing the way of transportation, train, car etc. must be enclosed. In addition, a recommendation from the supervisor verifying the academic relevance of the student trip must be enclosed.

3. The application must be sent to the study board when the semester coordinator, project supervisor or teacher has approved your application. Please note that applications received after the student trip has taken place will be rejected. In this case, the student trip is on the students' own account.

4. After the student trip a travel expense sheet must be handed in to the study board secretary.

ADMISSION TO A MASTER'S PROGRAMME

In connection with admission to master’s programmes, please be aware that admission to a master’s programme requires a fully passed and qualifying bachelor’s programme before September 1.

If you have not passed a bachelor’s programme before September 1 and need to pass a number of ECTS credits to complete it, the study board can deviate from this rule by approving an application for an exemption.

An application for an exemption can be approved if special circumstances apply, and if the university estimates that you have the prerequisites to finish and pass the bachelor’s programme meanwhile following courses at the master’s programme. In that case, you can only pass courses and exams to an extent of 30 ECTS credits on the master’s programme, meanwhile being registered on the bachelor’s programme and finishing it.

You can find SICT's rules for admission, the template for exemption and the agreement about preparation for reexam below:

APPLICATION FOR EXEMPTION 

SICT's rules for admission for bachelor's students on master's modules via exemption

Danish version
English version
Application for exemption for admission on a qualified master’s programme 

Danish version
English version
Agreement about preparation for a reexam

Danish version
English version
Please be aware that you will not officially be admitted to the master’s programme before you have passed the bachelor’s programme. This will also affect your study grant (SU). Read more about this here.

Read also more about admission here.

Information on Study curricula can be found here

Here you can find exiamination rules and guidelines:

• Examination guidelines for students - IN SHORT (Danish version) (English version)
• Rules for submitting project documentation (Danish version) (English version)
• Digital Exam for students (Danish version) (English version)
• Rules for ITX Flex used in written exams (Danish version) (English version)
• Exam policies and procedures (Danish and English version)
• Guide to project exams (Danish version) (English version)
• Project exam - how is it done? (video) (Danish version)
  AAU rules for plagerism (Danish version) (English version) 
• Rules for complaints (Danish version) (English version)
• All exam rules handled by Study service at AAU (Danish version)

Information on disciplinary rules can be found here.

Information on correct use of citation can be found here.

An exemption is a deviation from ordinary rules and is only granted in extraordinary cases (e.g. illness).

Here you can find the general AAU rules for exemptions in Danish and English. 
Here you can find the danish version of the rules for exemptions.

You can apply for an exemption in the following cases: 4th and 5th exam attempt, the first year examination, registration for teaching activities (30 new ECTS credits each semester), deadline for hand-in of project reports and theses, admission to master’s programmes.

When applying for an exemption always contact the relevant study board secretary.

Applications for the study board must include:

Applicant’s name, address and student no.
An updated study journal from STADS.
An exact description of what is applied for.
Explanation of why it is necessary to apply for a dispensation (e.g. explain why you did not pass an exam in the earlier attempts and what went wrong).
Make it probable that an exemption actually solves the problem (e.g. in your opinion can you pass the exam in a 4th attempt?). You might also attach a statement from the teacher.

You should use the form application for exemption.

Always remember to attach documentation if possible, including a medical statement for illness or similar. If the application is insufficient, it will be returned with indication of what is missing. Please note that in order for a medical statement to be approved by the study board it must include an actual assesment from the doctor and not a statement from the student about his/her illness and the student must consult the doctor on the actual examination day in order for the medical statement to count as proper grounds for not going to the exam.

Guide medical statement (Danish version)
Guide medical statement (English version)
 

4TH EXAM ATTEMPT
The student has the right to register for an exam three times. The study board can grant exemption for a 4th exam attempt, if extraordinary conditions exist that can be substantiated.

In connection with applications for exemption for a 4th exam attempt the study board takes into account that the student has made an action plan in cooperation with the study board’s student counsellor and follows the course for the second time. The latter is not a requirement, but carries substantial weight when the study board makes its decision of whether or not to grant the exemption. The study board will ask for documentation for participation in the course lectures in the form of verification from the teacher or the student can present a collection of tasks.

Application for the 4th exam attempt must include:

Explanation of the conditions resulting in the failure to pass the exam in the third attempt.
Explanation of how the conditions have changed.
A signed plan of action and explanation of deviations. The plan of action is signed by one of the study board’s student counsellors, who will also help prepare the application for exemption.
Argument for passing the exam in a 4th attempt.
Documentation for the participation in the course the second time (verification from the teacher or presentation of a collection of tasks)
5TH EXAM ATTEMPT
Applications for an exemption for the 5th exam attempt follow the same rules as for the 4th attempt. An exemption for the 5th attempt can only be granted if special, severe and unusual conditions apply and can be documented. 

FIRST YEAR EXAMINATION
Failure to comply with the rules on the first year exam means that the student's enrollment must be terminated.

The first year examination consist of two requirements: the requirement to take the exam and the requirement to pass the exam

Requirement to take the exam: By the end of the first year of study in the professional bachelor’s and bachelor's programmes, students must take, i.e., obtain an assessment (pass/fail or a grade according to the 7-point grading scale) in all exams.

Requirement to pass the exam: The student must pass all exams in the first and second semesters before the
end of the second year of study after the start of the first semester, i.e. within 24 months. “The 24 months rule” cannot be postponed because of a change of study programme. Prior registrations are included in the 24 months.

Upon application, the study board may grant an exemption from the above if there are exceptional circumstances.

REGISTRATION FOR TEACHING ACTIVITIES
The student must register for teaching activities equivalent to 30 new ECTS credits before the beginning of the semester.

Upon application, the study board may grant an exemption from the above if there are exceptional circumstances.

DEADLINE FOR HAND-IN OF PROJECT REPORTS AND THESES
At the beginning of the semester deadlines for hand-in of project reports are set by the semester group. Deadlines are set in such a way that exams can be finished before the closing of the semester, which is normally by the end of January and June.

In order to participate in the exam you must comply with the deadline, and you must apply for an exemption if you cannot hand in on time. An exemption from the deadline is only granted in special cases such as illness for a longer period of time and it must be documented.The application for a deadline extension must be submitted no later than 2 weeks prior to the original hand-in date.

ADMISSION FOR THE MASTER'S PROGRAMME
If you wish to sign up for courses and exams in a master’s programme before you have passed your bachelor’s programme, you must send an application for an exemption. No specific form is available for this. Read more about exemption for admission on a master’s programme.

The joint program regulations are available here.

Sickness

1. BACKGROUND
Group formation processes are an essential part of the project based learning approach at AAU, and these processes greatly influence the students’ wellbeing and learning in the project work. Usually the group formations are carried out without problems, but for some students the group formation process can be experienced as problematic, chaotic and sometimes unpleasant and associated with exclusion.

A number of different stakeholders with varying levels of interest are involved in the group formation process. The most important stakeholders are the students (both strong and weak students), the semester coordinators (who are overall responsible for the processes) and the university in general (academic/pedagogical/didactic).

These guidelines attempt to establish some tools to assist with the group formation process, including different possibilities for the course of the process, and they also address the problems which can arise during the group formation process, e.g. students, who are not assigned to a group and subsequently the possibility of splitting and reorganizing groups.

2. OVERALL PRINCIPLES
Overall, group formations can vary from the entirely administrative groupings where the university takes full responsibility (for example P0) to processes that are fully managed by students. Despite the different attitudes to and wishes for group formations a number of conditions can be agreed upon:

• As a starting point it is a good principle that no group is closed until all students have been assigned to a group.
• Especially at the first semesters of the study programmes conditions could call for more controlled group formation processes (for instance administratively formed groups).
• At semesters with international students distribution of nationalities/international students in different groups is as a starting point desirable.
• Generally students learn different things by working in different groups, and for this reason this must be attempted.
• Project supervision is not just limited to academic guidance, but also pedagogical guidance. It is therefore important that the supervisors are professionally prepared to support and challenge the students in both the group formation process and the collaboration process.
• The semester coordinators must be in a position to change and adjust the group formation processes as variations between different study programmes and semesters will exist.
• Coordination between semester coordinators should be established in order to enable an exchange of experiences from previous semesters in terms of group formation and the group work in general (however, without stigmatizing any individual students).
  The group formation process should as a minimum be evaluated in connection with the semester evaluations.

It may be desirable with certain semesters that ’break’ with the normal group formation processes controlled by students in order to secure that students are not always working with the same group. This can for instance be done through different semester structures, other working methods than the ‘AAUproject’, varying group sizes or new group formation processes. 

3. CHOICE OF PROJECT
Prior to the beginning of the semester, the semester coordinator has collected project proposals from supervisors and possibly students. In collaboration with the supervisors the coordinator has ensured that the project proposals relate to the topic of the semester and that the proposals are realistic in terms of learning objectives, time frame, equipment, laboratories etc.

The project proposals must be made public not later than one week before the beginning of the semester. On certain semesters the project can be more fixed due to specific laboratory work or the like. In these instances a description of the project must, however, still be available at the beginning of the semester. 

4. GROUP SIZES
The study board has decided the following policy for the maximum number of students in a group:

• 1st-2nd semester: max 6 students
• 3rd-6th semester: max 6 students
• 7th-9th semester: max 6 students
• 10th semester: max 3 students

Application for exemption to a higher number of students per group must be sent to the study board with a valid explanation and approval by the supervisor.

5. DIFFERENT METHODS OF GROUP FORMATION
FULL STUDENT CONTROL

The students themselves control the group formation process. The semester coordinator defines the conditions for the group formation and supervises the process, including the number of groups, number of group members in each group etc. It will help facilitate the group formation if the semester coordinator announces these conditions prior to the day of the group formation so that the students can be prepared for the conditions of the group formation. The groups can be formed according to the topic, which the students wish to work with, and/or the persons the students wish to be in a group with. As a starting point, the groups are not final until everyone is assigned to a group.

Based on previous experience, the group formation process is carried out most effectively if the students demonstrate:

• Honesty – state your opinion, but in a nice way
• Openness – say what you think in the situations that can/will arise in connection with the group formation
• Respect – show your fellow students respect. Even when there is someone who you at first hand do not wish to be in a group with
• Responsibility – remember that you as a student are responsible for ensuring that the group formation is carried out without problems and that everyone is satisfied in the end.

If it, contrary to expectations, turns out that one or more students claim their right to write by themselves this right cannot be denied them. However, the student(s) must be informed that the allocated supervision is reduced accordingly, e.g. proportionally according to the size of the group.

If it turns out that the other students refuse to accept one or more students in a group (it is impossible to close the groups) resulting in students involuntarily left without a group, it will be possible in certain cases to agree upon a ‘conditional’ admission to a group. This means that a student, who experiences difficulties with being accepted by a group, is accepted by a group on the condition that the collaboration between the group and the student proceeds satisfactorily. In this way the group can reserve the right to exclude the student in question within a time period agree upon (try-out period).

It is the responsibility of the semester coordinator to supervise the group formation process and to step in if the process reaches a deadlock. Normally, the semester coordinator is not present at the actual group formation but must be available in case of problems. If the students are not able to manage the group formation process themselves, the semester coordinator must intervene and as an example divide the groups administratively. 

PARTIAL STUDENT CONTROL

In some cases it can be appropriate to control the group formation process to a higher degree than with full student control, but in such a way that it is still possible for the students to have influence on the group formation.

This can, for example, be the case on the first semester of Master’s programmes admitting students where a portion of the students comes directly from the qualifying Bachelor’s programme while the rest of the students comes from outside. In this case there can be an interest in forming mixed groups so that both AAU bachelors and students from other universities are represented in each group. The semester coordinator can in these cases make rules with regard to the number of AAU bachelors and students from other universities in each group. Given these premises the students can then form the groups based on topic and/or who they wish to be in a group with. If one or more students are not accepted in a group, the conditions concerning ‘conditional admission’ described above under ‘full student control’ will apply.

However, it should be pointed out that there are alternative options in connection with start-up of Master’s programmes. The curriculum may, for instance, include an introduction programme for the students, who do not hold an AAU Bachelor’s degree, so that they are eased in through the first semester. Hereafter all students follow the same courses and are free to form groups.

The study programme may wish to form new groups. Another variant of partial student control could in this case be that the groups are changed from semester to semester. Rules as to the number of group members from the previous semester group allowed in a new group can here be established. 

ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP FORMATION

In some cases it may be an advantage to form the groups administratively. This is typically the case on the first semester of a study programme where the students do not know each other. This approach can, however, be unsuitable if the project groups have different topics, because the individual student is then deprived of the possibility of free choice of topic.

By administrative group formation the groups can either be composed randomly, or they can be formed on the basis of personality tests from a wish to compose a group of students with different competences. 

6. SPLIT-UP OF A GROUP
As a last resort a group of students can be split-up if the collaboration does not work after active involvement by the project supervisor.  The rules for splitting-up project groups can be found at this page as well.

Project groups typically contain students that are all on the same semester, studying under the same study plan. In some cases, though, it is of interest to form project groups that mix students. This is possible, however a number of conditions should be fulfilled before the Study Board can give a dispensation.

An example of a group mixed across different study programmes is a group formed by students from different programs to do a joint master thesis e.g., a group consisting of 1 student from the M.Sc. in Robotics and 1 student from the M.Sc. in Electronic Systems.  Mixed group can even be formed across semesters, so 1 CE7 student can form a group with 2 CE9 students.

Mixed project groups can be formed if:

- the project unit of the involved students is of the same ECTS point load, e.g., all students have a 15 ECTS project unit in the applicable study plan.
- the constellation is approved by the Study Board. A template for an application for this is presented at the end of this document.
- the examination formats, the censoring (internal/external) and the grading (graded or pass/fail) are the same for all involved study plans
- the project documentation (deliverables) requirements are the same for all involved study plans.
- all involved study plans specify the same in terms of whether the exam is internal or external
the censor is taken from the same censor corps in cases of external censoring

Mixed project groups, when approved according to the above constraints, are subject to the following guidelines:

- the group hands in a shared report like any other project group
- at the exam all members of the group are accountable for the entire project, but to varying degrees in accordance with their respective learning goals as listed by each student’s study plan
- if the students do not wish to be held accountable for some elements of the project during the examination, the students must indicate in the report, who is accountable for what parts (ie., the report can have parts that are shared for all students in the group, and parts that only a part of the group is responsible for)
Thus, each student must be evaluated and graded according to his/her own learning goals. It is the responsibility of the group’s supervisor(s) to take this seriously when conducting the exam, including informing the censor about the differing learning goals of the group’s members.

Application for forming a mixed group

The students in a project group can stop working together and split into smaller groups after active involvement of the project supervisor as described below in section 1.

Resources for supervising a group are allocated proportionally with the number of students; therefore, the extent of supervising the new groups will be reduced accordingly.

In particular, students who wish to make individual projects should be aware that the number of supervising hours will be very limited (about 5-7 hours during the semester, and a group room is not a guarantee)

The following rules apply when students wish to split a project group:

1. The group’s supervisor should be involved actively in the process and asked for advice in order to solve disagreements before splitting the group. The supervisor should also receive copies of written warnings the project group may have sent to the student(s) about to be expelled from the group (See #7). The semester coordinator, chairman of the study board and the head of studies will only be involved under special circumstances.
2. Splitting groups is not allowed within the last 4 weeks before handing in the project report.
3. The study secretariat must be informed about a group split.
4. All students in the group are equally entitled to material (documents, prototypes, test setup, etc.,) existing at the time of splitting the group. This means that the material can be taken out of the group.
5. Material brought by student(s) who chose to leave a group or who are expelled by a group cannot be used by or given to other students in a new group. This material is considered as the student’s own material – and cannot be used in project work with a new group or be given to other students.
6. When splitting a group, the remaining supervising hours will be divided between the remaining group and the student(s) who leave or are expelled from the group. There will be no extra supervision.
7. Prior to excluding one or more members of a group, the excluded student(s) must have received a written warning from the remaining group and the student(s) must have failed to comply with the restorative demands outlined in the letter. The letter describing the restorative demands must include a time frame. Immediately after the end of the time frame (which must be scheduled before the deadline for splitting groups (See #2)), the remaining group and the supervisor must determine whether the demands have been met.

Students can spend one semester on project-oriented work in a company during their master's programme. Preferably, project-oriented work should be completed during the third semester of the master's programme.

You will find guidelines and the agreement forms here:

Guidelines (Danish version) (English version)
Agreement form (Danish version) (English version)
Student evaluation form (Danish version) (English version)
Company evaluation form (Danish version) (English version)
Agreement form ONLY for ICTE

You can get more information about NDA's at the webpage of Grants & Contracts. 

Agreement on an internship for diploma engineering can be found here.

The thesis concludes the master’s study programme. As a rule, all students write a thesis worth 30 ECTS credits (short). The study board can grant an exemption from this rule and allow theses up to 60 ECTS credits (long), which take two semesters.

STARTING TIME
For students who started their master’s study programme in a fall semester the starting time for the thesis project is 1st February (short) or 1st September (long).
For students who started their master’s study programme in a spring semester the starting time for the thesis project is 1st September (short) or 1st February (long).
The study board can (upon written application) grant exemption for other starting times.

SUBMISSION TIME
Start 1st February: No later than beginning of June (short) or beginning of November (long).
Start 1st September: No later than beginning of January (short) or beginning of June (long).

The study board will determine the exact deadline for submission.

NB: See below information regarding failure to meet the submission deadline.

THESIS CONTRACT
The thesis supervisor and the head of studies must approve a proposal for the master’s thesis as stated in a thesis contract. The thesis contract must be signed by the thesis supervisor and sent to the study board no later than one month after the starting time of the thesis project; i.e., normally 1st October or 1st March. You will hear more from your study secretary (via Moodle) when it is time to fill out the thesis contract.

FIND THE THESIS CONTRACT HERE

EXEMPTIONS REGARDING THE SUBMISSION OF THE MASTER'S THESIS
According to the ministerial regulations a master’s education must be completed within 22 months. Failure to meet the submission deadline for the master’s thesis implies a failure to pass the thesis exam. Moreover, a reformulated thesis contract and a detailed study plan must be approved, and the study board will determine a new submission deadline within an additional three months. In case of failure to meet the new deadline, an additional failure to pass the thesis exam will be recorded and a final attempt is granted under the same conditions as for the second attempt. Applications for exemptions received later than 2 weeks before the submission deadline will normally be rejected.

Download template from bottom of this page.