Complaints procedures
Credit transfer decisions
Holders of foreign qualifications may bring educational institutions' credit transfer decisions, i.e. decisions on exemption from parts of a Danish educational programme, before a special appeals committee, the Qualifications Board – Kvalifikationsnævnet. It was established following the amendments to the Act on assessment of foreign qualifications, which entered into force on 1 July 2002 (see Danish legislation on assessment and recognition).
This establishes a right to complain about the content of the credit transfer decision itself, i.e. about how much or how little credit the educational institution is willing to give to the holder of foreign qualifications.
This concerns credit transfer decisions for educational programmes and areas that come under the jurisdiction of the following Ministries: The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education and the Ministry of Culture.
The activities of the Qualifications Board comprise matters and issues of content, whereas the pre-existing statutory provisions on the right to complain about legal aspects of decisions made by educational institutions have not been affected by the amendments to the Act.
The complaint must be filed via the educational institution. The decision of the Qualifications Board is the final and conclusive administrative decision. The Qualifications Board is an independent body supported by a secretariat within the Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation.
In 2007, new legislation confirmed the operation of the complaints board and expanded its jurisdiction.
Assessments by the Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation
Complaints about assessments made by the Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation cannot be filed with the Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education or any other authority. This is stated in the Act on assessment of foreign qualifications – see Danish legislation on assessment and recognition.
However, the agency will consider all communications that it receives and may choose to make a new assessment, for example if new information is presented that changes the basis for an assessment.
In addition, there are the same complaints procedures as in other public administration areas: In pursuance of Section 63 of the Constitutional Act of Denmark and the Parliamentary Ombudsman Act, the agency's decisions may be brought before the courts and before the ombudsman.
