Students right of access to documents

The Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science has informed DTU, and the other universities about the following:

"The right of access to documents for a party in a decision case follows Chapter 4 of the Public Administration Act. Section 24 of the Examination Order stipulates that during the evaluation process, the external and internal examiners must make notes about the performance and their deliberations for reference in the event of an appeal. The notes must be kept for at least one year and until any appeal procedure has been completed.  

The fact that it has been established as a rule that during the voting/evaluation process, notes must be taken on the performance and grading for use in a possible appeal case (examination complaint) means that a decision has been made on the status of these notes as a document. Notes taken during the examination itself are, by their nature, used in the subsequent voting.

Thus, it has not been the purpose of the rule to exclude documents with notes taken during the actual examination from the right of access to documents. That will be clarified with an upcoming rule change. Thus, if an appeal is brought (a decision case) in which the notes are included, the notes are given the status of documents in a decision case. Thus, in connection with a request for access to the notes, a decision must be made on the right of access following the relevant rules of the Public Administration Act.

In addition to the general rules on the right of access to documents under the Public Administration Act, the rules on access according to the data protection rules apply. The EU judgment, C-434/1, states, among other things, that a written answer given by a participant in connection with an academic test and the examiner's possible corrections and comments on this answer constitute personal data.

The right of access to personal data is governed by Article 15 of the Data Protection Regulation, with the exceptions provided for in section 22 of the Data Protection Act. "

A student thus has the right to see or receive a copy of his/her own exam submission and the examiner's and external examiner's assessment notes, even without submitting an examination complaint. Assessment notes are the corrections, notes and comments the examiner and external examiner are obliged to take in connection with assessment in both oral and written examinations according to Examination Order § 24. That is justified by the fact that assessment notes are information linked to the examinee's person, and the Personal Data Directive thus covers them.

You must ensure the student's identity before delivery. This is done by only sending to the student's student email (sxxxxxx@student.dtu.dk) or the student must show his/her student card.

The EU ruling focuses on the notes being written with care so that they can be immediately handed out to the students in copy, as they are, whether handwritten, containing abbreviations or possibly in a foreign language. It is not allowed to edit the notes subsequently.

Please note that the request for access to documents must be processed within 7 working days of receipt, cf. section 36, subsection 2 of the Public Information Act [Offentlighedsloven].