Accommodations for disadvantages
This overview is intended to provide you with an overview of the topic of disadvantage compensation (NTA) for students. The aim is to make it transparent to teaching staff, instructors and lectures who is involved in this topic at the university, for which students NTA is important and also what is possibly the responsibility of the teaching staff. Due to the complexity and individual organisation of the various federal states and university locations, there are only vague statements or references to further information for some information.
Introductory video of the University of Hamburg
1. General
The aim of disadvantage compensation is to compensate for disadvantages through certain measures in such a way that equal opportunities (compared to fellow students) prevail for everyone. This means that students must experience neither disadvantages nor advantages.
For example, staff, people who have a physical or mental impairment or who make use of maternity protection provisions are eligible.
The right to NTA is enshrined in law in various places:
- UN CRPD = UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Art. 5 para. 2, Art. 24 para. 1+5
- GG = Basic Law: Principle of equality (Art. 3 para. 1+3) and freedom of choice of profession (Art. 12 para. 1)
- HRG = Higher Education Framework Act: §2 para. 4, §16 sentence 4 These principles can also be found in state higher education acts (LHG)
- Individual legal entitlement arises only from the examination regulations of the universities, not from the LHG.
- Approval of disadvantage compensation(s) can be long-term (e.g. several years, the entire degree programme) or short-term (e.g. one semester).
A study by Jana Bauer (2021) shows that although teaching staff, instructors, lectures fear the additional work involved in NTA, those who have already had experience with it are largely positive.
Further information can be found, for example, at the University of Potsdam.