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Reasonable Accommodations
Reasonable Accommodations (German: Nachteilsausgleich/NTA) are intended to ensure equal opportunities for participation in studies and to avoid discrimination. Reasonable accommodations are supported in the field of education by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (§ 24 para. 5 UN CRPD). Reasonable accommodation is the legal entitlement of students with disabilities or chronic illnesses to needs-based adaptation of study and examination conditions. The aim is to compensate for existing disadvantages due to disability or chronic disease. Reasonable accommodations are always tailored to the individual situation and adapted to the disability-related impairments.
Detailed guidelines on how to request and organise reasonable accommodation can be found here:
Guide to Reasonable Accommodations
KSB is happy to advise students on the requesting process and to provide a statement in support of the request. A summary of the requesting process can be found further down this page.
Forms:
Key steps towards reasonable accommodations
Any student who has a long-term health condition that limits their ability to study can request reasonable accommodation. In addition to a recognised disability, this includes chronic and mental illnesses.
The design of the accommodation depends on how the disability affects your studies. Since every disability or illness has an individual profile, the appropriate measures are adapted to each case.
The Contact Point for Studying with Disability will gladly help you find the right measures.
Possible measures with regard to the organisation of your studies could be, for example:
- Barrier-free access to lectures
- Modification of attendance requirements
- Modification of the framework conditions for internships and stays abroad
Possible measures for tests and examinations could be, for example:
- Time extension for examinations, assignments, theses
- Change of examination form, e.g. written instead of oral or vice versa
- Use of assistive devices
- Conducting examinations in a separate room
Important: There is no entitlement to any particular form of accommodation. It is at the discretion of the respective examination board!
It is recommended that you contact the counselling offices, the examinations office and the lecturers before submitting a request.
An informal written request must be submitted to the relevant examination board for reasonable accommodations in coursework or examinations. In order to ensure that the examination board can process your request in good time and that approved measures to compensate for disadvantages can also be implemented in organisational terms, we recommend that you submit your request by December 15 (in a winter semester) or June 15 (in a summer semester), but no later than six weeks before the start of the respective examination period or examination date.
You can also use KSB's request form.
The request must describe in detail the disability claimed and the accommodation requested. It is important that the request clearly explains the relationship between the health impairment and the difficulty in studying and how this difficulty can be compensated.
The request must be accompanied by meaningful documentation that supports your situation in a way that members of the selection board can understand the arguments. Such documentation could be, for example, a specialist or official medical certificate, a psychological report or a copy of a severely disabled person's card.
The examination board will discuss your request and then send you a written decision stating the measures granted to compensate for disadvantages. You will use this notification to contact the relevant lecturers and discuss the implementation of the approved measures. Please note that the reasonable accommodations must be reapplied for every two semesters at the latest. You can find out from your study regulations whether reasonable accommodations are valid for one or two semesters.
If you are of the opinion that the measures granted do not adequately compensate for your disadvantages, you have the opportunity to appeal after receiving the notification.