Admission to Danish higher education for holders of foreign qualifications

Application for admission

If you wish to enrol on an ordinary programme of higher education, you must apply for admission via the Coordinated Enrolment System (KOT). KOT is a joint registration system where you can apply for admission to several study programmes of higher education listed in order of priority.

To apply for admission please download the application forms from the admission portal of the Danish Ministry of Education: Optagelse.dk

Deadline for applications: For admission to most higher education programmes, students with foreign qualifications must apply before 15 March, 12:00 noon. The deadline may be different if you are applying to enter an English-language bachelor's programme and to be granted a residence permit for that. If that is the case, please ask the university for information about the deadline.

Candidatus programmes

If you wish to apply for admission to a candidatus (Danish master's) programme, please contact the university directly.

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

Your foreign certificate must be on a level with a Danish upper secondary school leaving certificate. For admission to a programme of short-cycle higher education (kort videregående uddannelse/erhvervsakademiuddannelse) it may be sufficient that your foreign certificate is on a level with a relevant Danish vocational qualification.

To find out whether the level of a foreign certificate satisfies the general entry requirements, go to this page: Foreign qualifications for entry to higher education.

If the information that you want is not available there, you can contact the Danish Agency for International Education or the educational institution where you wish to apply.

It is up to the educational institution in question to decide whether or not you fulfil the requirements for admission, on the basis of general recommendations from the Danish Agency for International Education. If necessary, you can ask the agency for an assessment comparing the level of your foreign qualification to a Danish entry qualification. Application guidelines and forms are available on this website: en.iu.dk/recognition.

Language requirements

For programmes taught in Danish, you must be able to document sufficient oral and written proficiency in Danish. A requirement is normally made that you must have passed the Study Test in Danish as a Second Language. For more information, see: Language requirements.

Specific entry requirements

Like applicants with Danish qualifications, you must meet the specific entry requirements that apply to each study programme. Specific requirements may include the level of the subjects, marks, overall average of marks, work experience or any relevant vocational training.

The educational institution can tell you whether you need to take supplementary courses.

Supplementary courses

If you do not meet the specific entry requirements that apply to the study programme for which you wish to apply, you must supplement your entry qualification. Such supplementary courses can be taken at:

• higher preparatory (HF) courses

• adult education centres (VUC)

• upper secondary schools

• schools offering two-year upper secondary school leaving certificates

• vocational and technical schools (studenterkursus)

• the access course of the study programmes in engineering.

You must find out which educational institutions offer the courses that you need to take and enrol on these courses. You can obtain further information about this by visiting www.uddannelsesguiden.dk or by contacting one of the regional guidance centres.

The supplementary courses must have been completed before the start of the study programme or shortly after the start of the study programme depending on the rules of the educational institution.