Law degree programmes

1. What to do in case of illness?

If a candidate is unable to attend an examination date for good reasons, the following must be observed:
The examination candidate has a duty to cooperate with regard to the proof of their inability to sit the examination. This means concretely:
The reasons for the inability to sit the examination must be notified immediately, i.e. without undue delay, at the latest, within three working days after the examination date, in writing to the Examinations Office, and must be substantiated. The application must contain the name, address, degree programme, matriculation number, the missed examination, and the examination date.

In case of illness, a medical certificate in original (a fax is not an original) must be enclosed, which must be based on a medical examination on the day of the claimed inability to take the examination. In the case of computer printouts, make sure that the certificate bears the doctor's stamp. If so wished, the doctor may use a form (PDF in german language) provided by the University.

2. What information does the medical certificate need to contain?

A medical certificate which is limited to certifying that the candidate is incapable of sitting examination, or to issuing a certificate of incapacity for work, is not sufficient for acceptance of inability to sit examination.

The assessment of whether a candidate is incapable of sitting an examination in a specific case is a legal act which falls within the competence of examination administration, and, unlike the incapacity to work of an employee, cannot be decided by the attending physician. In these proceedings, the doctor treating the candidate has the function of a medical expert who’s role is to describe the existing health impairments (pain, fever, disturbance of the ability to concentrate) in such a concrete way that it is possible for the examinations board or examination administration to make a decision on the existence of  examination incapacity. This means that in the case of outpatient or other general practitioner treatment, the medical certificate must clearly indicate the obstacles to participation in the examination, e.g. bed rest, objective inability to travel to the place of examination and/or to undergo the examination there without significant discomfort, or without aggravating the illness or similar. The exact designation of the illness is not decisive in this context.

However, there is no objection to the physician entering a diagnosis on the certificate of his own accord instead of a detailed description of functional disorders, if examination incapacity can be justified more plausibly without disproportionately embarrassing the candidate.

Fluctuations in daily form, exam stress, or other short-term mental disorders are not significant impairments in the sense of capacity to sit examination.

In general, a doctor's certificate from a private practice of your choice is sufficient. Alternatively, the Examinations Office can also require a medical certificate from a public health officer.

If you are hospitalised on the day of the examination, you must present written confirmation from the hospital.

Recognition of the medical certificate or the written confirmation from the hospital will be documented by the Examinations Office in the examination administration system; you will not be notified additionally.

3. Medical confidentiality?

The patient's request to have a certificate issued that is appropriate to allow his or her examination incapacity to be established by the Examinations Office, constitutes the doctor's implied release from their duty of confidentiality with regard to all information required for this purpose. In this respect, the medical certificate in the case of examination incapacity differs from a certificate of incapacity for work in professional life, where the protection of the employee from dismissal is taken into account. 

You must bear in mind, that a failure to cooperate or to cooperate sufficiently in clarifying the examination incapacity claimed may be to your disadvantage. 

 It is therefore in your interest to ask your doctor to explain as precisely as possible the actual circumstances preventing you from taking the examination, so that the board of examiners or examination administration can decide on your request for recognition of these grounds.

References (with reference to case law): Niehues/Fischer/Jeremias, Prüfungsrecht, 6. 2014 edition

Form for certification of examination incapacity (PDF in german language)

(Translation assistance: Form for certification of examination incapacity)