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Non-participation at exams due to sickness

General Principles

Students are obligated to hand in a medical certificate with the responsible examination board (not the examination office) by mail or in person immediately after the decision not to participate. Otherwise the missed exam is counted as pass fail.

Procedure for students of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics

The non-participation of an exam requires a filled-in form (available on this website). Incomplete forms will not be processed.

Please note that a certificate proving the inability to write the thesis or non-participation at exams needs to be attached to the application form. Further information about this attachment can be found in the next paragraph.

Hint: Students of the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Cultural Science, please check with the authorities responsible for them examination board with respect to the procedure for withdrawal from the examination.

Certificate about the inability to participate at an exam

Within the framework of the obligation to co-operate with the examining doctor, the student needs the doctor to make statements about the diagnosis as indicated in point 3. Without those statements, the application for extra time to work on the thesis cannot be accepted.

  1. Within the framework of students’ obligation to co-operate, students are bound to fully disclose their health troubles in order to confirm their inability to write the thesis and, if necessary, absolve the doctor from doctor-patient confidentiality.
  2. A publication of the diagnosis is not required.
  3. Physical as well as psychological effects of the sickness have to be disclosed. A general medical certificate about the inability of participating in an examination and/or incapacity to work is insufficient. (Please note: fluctuations in one’s daily performance, fear of examination, stress or any similar concerns do not represent an impairment of one’s performance and ability to be examined according to the study regulation.)

In order to proof the student’s inability to write the thesis or non-participation at exams, you may use the sample form. However, the medical certification may also be informal, as long as it includes the following information:

  • name
  • symptoms / type of performance decrease
  • length of the sickness

Medical certifications in foreign languages need to be officially translated.

If the examination board has any doubts as to the validity of the medical certificate, they may request a submission of a medical certification by a public health officer (amtsärztliches Attest, sample form).Notes about medical certification by a public health officer in Frankfurt (Oder).

If the student is hindered in his working process due to the sickness of his/her child and the child’s supervision becomes necessary, documentation will be the same as mentioned above. The examination board approves the certificate of the student’s inability to write the thesis, if the sickness of the child can be proved by a certificate of illness. If applicable, the student needs to prove that he/she took all possible measures in order to take care for the child, but that those measures taken did not lead to any success.