Maternity/paternity leave during education

Maternity/paternity leave during education

You are not required to notify DTU when you become a parent during your studies. However, you must be aware that rules, deadlines, and study activity requirements for the study must continue to be complied with.

Generally, you cannot get maternity/paternity leave while being a higher-education student, as you know it from the labour market. Instead, you have the following options:

1. Postponement of deadlines (maternity/paternity leave with State Educational Frant and Loan Scheme)
2. Leave of absence (maternity/paternity leave without State Educational Frant and Loan Scheme)

Postponement of deadlines (maternity/paternity leave with State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme)
If you become a parent or adopt a child while enrolled in a higher education programme at DTU, you may have the following deadlines postponed:

• maximum duration of the study
• the study activity requirement of 5 ECTS credits annually
• a possible first-year exam

To get deadlines postponed, you must fill out and submit a form along with documentation of the child's birth (birth certificate) to the Study Administration by writing to studadm@adm.dtu.dk before the child turns one year old. The postponement of deadlines applies from the child's birth date.

The same rules apply to the parent giving birth and the co-parent. Both can have the deadlines mentioned above extended by one year.

When you are granted a postponement of deadlines, you can be study inactive for a year or choose to take one or more courses and/or exams during the maternity/paternity leave.

When you are granted a postponement of deadlines, you will be informed of the new deadlines via an email sent to your student email.

The above rules also apply to the Industry Master's programme.

DTU’s postponement of your deadlines does not affect the Danish Education Support Agency's decision regarding allocating SU parental supplements in connection with maternity/paternity leave. You must, therefore, investigate the conditions themselves, including how many SU instalments/parental supplements you can receive. Information about parental support can be found at www.su.dk.

Leave of absence (maternity/paternity leave without State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme)
If you become a parent or adopt a child while enrolled in a higher education programme at DTU, you can apply for up to one year's leave of absence on those grounds.

If you apply for a leave of absence, you cannot participate in lectures, exams, or activities/guidance related to final projects.

If you are on leave of absence, you cannot receive the State Educational Grant and Loan Scheme or SU parental supplements.

If you wish to apply for a leave of absence, you can read more about how to apply, the consequences, and find the application form on student.dtu.dk under 'Study rules/Leave of absence'.