Academic policies and procedures
In case of demonstrable force majeure situations (i.e. illness) which prevent you from participating in examinations, you need to inform the University of your absence using the following web form:
If this was not possible and you did not fill in this form prior to missing the exam, you are required to report it as soon as possible after the force majeure situation arose to the Student Information Desk Law at Janskerkhof 3. You then also have to indicate why you were unable to deregister for the exam beforehand.
If you cannot access the form due to a technical error, please send an email to studiepunt.rechten@uu.nl
Evidence of force majeure must be shown if requested. If the force majeure is more than incidental, you cannot deregister from an exam at the Student Information Desk Law. In that case, please contact the study advisor.
Note that when you take a substitute exam after you missed your first exam, you no longer have the right to do a resit! There is only one opportunity for a resit or substitute exam per course.
Master 2024-2025 (pdf)
Overview of changes Education and Examination Regulations of the Master 2024-2025 (pdf)
Previous years:
Master 2023-2024 (pdf)
Overview of changes Education and Examination Regulations of the Master 2023-2024 (pdf)
Master 2022-2023
Overview of changes Education and Examination Regulations of the Master 2022-2023
Master 2021-2022
Overview of changes Education and Examination Regulations of the Master 2021-2022
Current academic year:
Board of Examiners master's regulations as of 1st September 2024
Previous years:
Board of Examiners master's regulations as of 1st September 2023
Board of Examiners master's regulations as of 1st September 2022
Board of Examiners master's regulations as of 1st September 2021
Board of Examiners master's regulations as of 1st September 2020
(disclaimer, this is an unauthorized translation of the original Dutch version, in case of ambiguity of any kind, the Dutch version is considered to be the correct version)
To take elective courses outside the Law department or at another university, you need to request permission from the Board of Examiners Master in advance. You can submit your request by logging into Osiris and starting a new ‘Case’ for an elective course.
As soon as the results of this course(s) are known, please hand in (in case of electives at another university) the original transcript of records to the Student Information Desk of The School of Law or directly to Examencommissie.rechten@uu.nl by the university where you took the courses.
It is possible to include results accredited by a different institution in your Master’s programme at Utrecht University. However, the following conditions need to be met:
- No partial exemptions are granted.
- Only courses with a course load of at least 6 EC are eligible for exemption requests.
- When allowed to include a result of another university’s (Master’s) programmes, a student must pass another graduate Law course in order to meet the 60 EC-criterion (for 1-year programmes) or the 120 EC-criterion (for 2-year programmes).
- In general, students cannot take courses at another institution that are also offered by our own faculty. Exception is made for courses passed prior to starting the Master’s programme at Utrecht University.
- In order to graduate, students are allowed to include courses to a maximum of 30 EC outside of their Master’s programme (e.g. with a sister faculty or via the International Office).
You can use Osiris Student to request an exemption. Through the tab 'Cases' on the top left corner you can start a new request (Case). Subsequently click on My Cases. A new window will open, so make sure any pop-up blockers are turned off. In 'My Cases' you can subsequently upload the required documents.
All official rules regarding exemptions can be found in the Education and Examination Regulations (OER).
Here you can find a set of rules and regulations about examinations that take place online.
When you write a thesis, you are dealing with Research Data Management: processing data and possibly also personal data, for example when you conduct interviews. In the latter case, you are then dealing with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You also need to secure your data properly at all times. It is therefore important that you know what you have to comply with in terms of legislation and university frameworks. Please figure this out before you start writing your thesis. Your thesis supervisor can help you with this, ask for the guidelines. More information can be found on the university website and the in the guidelines for handling personal data.
The LEG faculty has an academic integrity counsellor. You can contact this counsellor for questions about conducting and assessing honest, concise, transparent and independent research. For questions about collaborating with integrity and transparency with (fellow) researchers and (fellow) students, you can also contact this counsellor. You can send Inge Claringbould an email to make an appointment: i.e.c.claringbould@uu.nl.
Students who are supervised by Inge Claringbould can choose to contact Sebastiaan Princen, USG’s integrity counsellor, for integrity related questions: S.B.M.Princen@uu.nl.
If you have a disability or chronic illness, Utrecht University will support you as much as possible in order to ensure that you complete your degree programme successfully. Examples of a disability / chronic illness include visual, auditory or motor impairments, dyslexia, or AD(H)D for instance.
You can submit a request for special facilities via OSIRIS Student (tab Cases > Application for special facilities). An example of a special facility is extra time when sitting exams.
How to request special facilities?
You can use Osiris Student to request special fascilitires Through the tab 'Cases' on the top left corner you can start a new request (Case). Subsequently click on My Cases. A new window will open, so make sure any pop-up blockers are turned off. In 'My Cases' you can subsequently upload the required documen
It is now common knowledge that ChatGPT is capable of generating accurate texts based on a question (“prompt”). Currently, we are surveying university-wide what the possibilities and risks of AI tools are.
The following is already clear: if a student uses an AI tool (such as ChatGPT or a similar tool) to generate texts and then presents these as their own work for an assessment (this includes a thesis or dissertation), this will be marked as fraud. Such use of AI is therefore not permitted. After all, it is important that you yourself are able to process knowledge and report on it in a convincing text (essay, pleading paper, research report, etc.) and that you can account for it. So please read the two principles below.
Guideline:
- The use of an AI tool (such as ChatGPT or a similar tool) is regarded as fraud if a student generates texts with it and presents them as his/her own work for the purpose of a summative or formative assessment such as an examination, an essay, thesis or dissertation (or parts thereof), cf. art. 5.15 section 1 OER (BA/ art. 5.16 section 1 MA).
- The obligation to be active in and be prepared for classes (art. 4.5 OER-BA/4.3 OER-MA) is considered not to have been met if a student has only (or to a predominant extent) used an AI tool (such as ChatGPT or a similar tool) for preparation and presents the preparations as his own work
Your UU-grades abroad
To help foreign universities to interpret the value of our grades, UU publishes Grading Tables:
- a table for Bachelor’s courses and
- a table for Master’s courses.
The Grading Tables provide statistical distributions of grades awarded at Utrecht University. They show which percentage of all passing grades that were awarded in the three most recent academic years were (rounded-off) a 6.0, a 6.5, a 7.5, etc. The tables will be published on the International Diploma Supplement of all students who graduate after September 1st 2017.
In addition to the Grading Tables, UU also publishes a weighted average grade on the ten point scale on your International Diploma Supplement.
What do Grading Tables not show?
Grading Tables do not show whether you belong to the 10% (or any other percentage) of your class. The tables do not contain information about the average either, nor are they just about your fellow students.
The most recent Grading Tables (September 2021 – August 2024)
| Grade | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 6.0 | 18.58% |
| 6.5 | 17.38% |
| 7.0 | 20.21% |
| 7.5 | 19.17% |
| 8.0 | 13.72% |
| 8.5 | 7.10% |
| 9.0 | 2.81% |
| 9.5 | 0.81% |
| 10.0 | 0.22% |
| Grade | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 6.0 | 8.83% |
| 6.5 | 10.02% |
| 7.0 | 17.07% |
| 7.5 | 22.21% |
| 8.0 | 22.20% |
| 8.5 | 12.49% |
| 9.0 | 5.50% |
| 9.5 | 1.28% |
| 10.0 | 0.40% |
Grade Point Average substituted by Grading Tables
Until 1 September 2017, Utrecht University published a Grade Point Average (GPA) to provide help institutions abroad to interpret UU-grades. Many Anglo-Saxon universities use this four point scale to express their weighted average grade. The GPA always needs clarification. The standards according to which the GPA is calculated differ between (international) universities.
Utrecht University considers any form of academic dishonesty to be a very serious offense. Utrecht University expects each student to be familiar with and to observe the norms and values that ensure academic integrity.The most serious forms of deception that can impair this integrity are fraud and plagiarism. Plagiarism is a form of fraud and is defined as the wrongful appropriation of another author’s work without proper citation. See the further elaboration on what may be considered fraud or plagiarism.
If the university discovers a case of fraud or plagiarism, then the study programme’s Board of Examiners may implement sanctions on the offender. The most serious sanction that the Board of Examiners may implement is the submission of a request for expulsion to the Executive Board.
If you feel you have not been treated properly by someone employed by Utrecht University, or if you disagree with a decision that affects you personally, you can respond in a number of ways. You can submit a complaint, an objection or an appeal.
For the full details about the various procedures and which procedure is applicable for your situation, visit Complaints, objections and appeals.
Utrecht University processes a substantial volume of personal data. In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) the university is responsible for ensuring that personal data is processed properly. Also see the Privacy Statement on the Utrecht University website.
Sets out all the rights and duties of students and the University. Download the Students' charter.