How to Apply to Study in Denmark

For students from the EU/EEA and Switzerland, higher education in Denmark is free for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

If you are from outside the EU/EAA, you will be required to pay tuition fees in Danish universities. These are, on average, US$8,000-21,000 per year.

There are several scholarships on offer, which you can find out more about here.

Applications to study in Denmark should be made through the national admissions site www.optagelse.dk by 15 March, 12 noon (CET).

Here you will apply to universities and attach the relevant documents required by the university you’re applying to.

Signature

To apply, you’ll need a signature and verification of your ID for each of the courses you are applying to.

If you are a Danish citizen or hold a residence permit, this is done with electronic signature NemID, a digital identification tool that will have been issued to you previously.

If you’re an international student, you will be required to print a signature page from optagelse.dk, sign it and send it to the universities you are applying for. The page will contain an application ID which the universities use to download your application 

Other documents

You will need to attach the diploma of your upper secondary education in the ‘attachments’ section of the application. You may also be required to attach a personal essay, but this depends on the course and the institution. 

Applying for courses and receiving responses

You can apply for up to eight programs. You must list these in order of priority and each application must have a signature sent with it. You can change the priority of the universities until July 5.

On July 28, you will receive a single response. This will be in the form of a letter. If you receive an acceptance letter, this may not be from your first choice, if they don’t have a place available for you. It may be from your second choice, or even lower. If you receive a rejection letter, this means you have been rejected from all of your choices. You must respond to this letter by early August.

Once you’ve accepted your university offer, it’s time to sort out the boring (but incredibly necessary) parts of preparing to study abroad.

If you are an EU/EEA citizen or Swiss national and are staying in Denmark for less than three months, you can use your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) to access medically necessary healthcare services. 

If you’re an EU/EEA or Swiss national and plan to stay in Denmark for more than three months, you must register with the Civil Registration System. To do this, you’ll need a S1 Portable Document or a valid EHIC card issued by your statutory health insurance. 

International students will need to purchase travel insurance coverage for the time they’ll be studying in Denmark. However, all non-residents staying in Denmark are entitled to emergency hospital care, free of charge, in event of an accident, childbirth, acute illness or sudden aggravation of chronic disease, under the Danish Health Act. 

If you’re a citizen of Norway, Sweden or Finland, you won’t need any documentation to live, work and study in Denmark. All you’ll need is your Danish personal identification number.

If you’re from the EU/EEA or Switzerland you can study, work and live in Denmark for up to three months without documentation. After this, you will need to get a Danish registration certificate. To get this, you’ll need to present your passport, two passport-sized photos and a letter of admission from your university to the Regional State Administration (Statsforvaltningen). You will then be issued with a personal identification number.

If you’re from outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland, you’ll need to obtain a residence permit if you’ll be studying in Denmark for more than three months. If you’re staying for less than three months you’ll need a tourist visa.

To obtain a residence permit you will need:

• An acceptance letter from your university
• Proof of language proficiency
• Proof that you have the financial resources to support yourself (usually around €1,000 per month [around US$1,080])
• Proof that you have purchased travel insurance
• A valid passport
• Passport photo

Once you have your visa, you’ll need to arrange your accommodation. Most students in Denmark live in off-campus student halls of residence, which usually cost around €240-460 per month (approx. US$280-496). Check your university’s website for more information about this.

You can also choose to live in private accommodation. This tends to be more expensive, although this, of course, depends on size, location and number of people you share with. On average, a one-bedroom apartment in the city center of Copenhagen costs €1,333 (approx. US$1,444).

Just before you start your course, you will need to enroll in your university. This is done online, and there will be information sent by your university just before you start about how to do this.