1. General Information

Contents: Concept of disadvantage compensation, those entitled to it, legal basis.

The aim of disadvantage compensation is to compensate for disadvantages through certain measures in such a way as to ensure equal opportunities (compared to fellow students) for everyone. This means that students must neither be disadvantaged nor given preferential treatment.

Those eligible include, for example, people with a physical or mental impairment or those making use of maternity leave provisions.

Disadvantage compensation offsets individual and situation-specific disadvantages and does not constitute preferential treatment.

The right to disadvantage compensation is enshrined in law in various places:

• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Art. 5(2); Art. 24(1) and (5).
• Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz): Principle of equality (Art. 3(1) and (3)) and freedom of choice of profession (Art. 12(1)).
• Higher Education Framework Act (HRG): Section 2(4), Section 16, fourth sentence. These principles can also be found in the State Higher Education Acts (LHG).
• Individual legal entitlement arises solely from the universities’ examination regulations, not from the LHG.
• Approval of disadvantage compensation(s) may be granted on a long-term basis (e.g. several years, the entire duration of the degree programme) or on a short-term basis (e.g. one semester). 

A study by Jana Bauer (2021) shows that although teaching staff, instructors, lecturers fear the additional work involved in disadvantage compensation, those who have already had experience with it generally express positive views. Further information can be found, for example, at the University of Potsdam.