Public documents
The principle of public access to official documents means that the public and the media have the right to scrutinise the activities of the state, municipalities and regions. The right to access public documents is the core of this principle and is ensured by one of our constitutions, the Freedom of the Press Act.
The principle of public access to official documents and the right to access public documents apply to all government run higher education institutions. The principle does however also apply to Chalmers University of Technology and Jönköping University, which are independent higher education providers.
A document becomes public when it is received or drawn up at the authority and kept there. The right to access public documents can only be restricted by the Freedom of Information and Confidentiality Act.
A public document can either be public or subject to confidentiality. According to the principle of public access, everyone has the right to access public documents which are not confidential. Anyone who requests access to a public document has the right to remain anonymous and, as a rule, does not have to disclose what the document or information is to be used for. The right to access public documents applies to all government run higher education institutions.
Yes, an excerpt from LADOK is a public document. Every higher education institution is obliged to keep certain information about its students. This includes information on entry requirements, selection criteria for admission, study results, grades and degrees. The information in these registers, such as LADOK, is accessible to everyone according to the same rules that apply to public documents held by authorities.
The Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) does not have access to LADOK. If you’d like to access information documented in LADOK, this can be provided by the higher education institutions.
All higher education institutions run by the government are public authorities. If you are refused access to a public document, you can request a written decision from the authority in question. It is important that this decision is made by the person authorised to make such decisions on behalf of the authority.
An authority's decision to refuse to disclose a document can be appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal.
An exam, the exam form itself, should become a public document once it has been distributed to the students taking the exam. Before the exam has been completed, there may be grounds to refuse public access to the exam under the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Confidentiality Act.
Answers to an exam answer that a student has submitted is a public document and can therefore be requested from the relevant higher education institution.
The Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) does not have access to these submitted answers.
Government agencies do not need to keep all public documents, they may discard them in accordance with the Swedish National Archives' regulations and general advice. Exam answers that have not been given to the examined student may be discarded two years after the grading decision has been made.
A copy of the exam form must always be kept.