General access requirements to higher education in Denmark are 12 years of education including one of the following secondary school leaving examinations or comparable qualifications:
Studentereksamen (STX) (Upper Secondary School Leaving Examination)
3- to 4-year vocational education and training programmes often qualify for a short-cycle college programme within the same field.
Admission to many study programmes also depends on the fulfilment of specific requirements. These may either be a specific subject combination or requirements concerning the level of the subjects taken, the grades obtained, work experience etc. For a few study programmes there is a numerus clausus.
The higher education system
Institutions can be grouped into two different sectors:
The university sector and
The university college/college sector, i.e. the professionally oriented higher education sector.
The university sector includes 11 universities, 5 of which are multi-faculty universities. The other 6 are specialised in fields such as engineering, education, veterinary science, agriculture, pharmacy or business studies. In addition, there are a number of specialist university-level institutions in architecture, art, music, etc. All university study programmes are research-based and degrees are awarded at undergraduate and postgraduate level including doctoral degrees.
The university college/college sector comprises more than 150 specialised institutions of higher education, about one-third offering short-cycle and two-thirds predominantly offering medium-cycle professionally oriented programmes. Many of the colleges are relatively small institutions with 400 – 600 students offering one or a few study programmes in a specific field. Colleges often cooperate closely with other colleges or with universities.
Higher education institutions are publicly financed and state-regulated. The quality of higher education is assured by ministerial approval of new programmes and institutions, external examiners and an evaluation system. Although they have institutional autonomy, institutions must follow general regulations concerning teacher qualifications, award structures, study programmes and quality assurance.While private institutions can operate without any approval, they must abide by an accreditation procedure to make their students eligible for state study grants.
Danish academic degrees
Medium-cycle qualifications: The Bachelor's degree (B.A./B.Sc.) is awarded after an undergraduate programme of 3 years of study, normally concentrated on one or two subjects. Programmes are self-contained and qualify both for occupational functions and for studies for the candidatus degree.
Long-cycle qualifications:
The Master's degree candidatus(a) (cand. + field of study) is awarded after a total of 5-6½ years of study, normally a B.A./B.Sc. + 2 years of study. The programmes qualify students for assuming occupational functions and scientific work. Each candidatus programme must include one or two of the major fields of study of the Bachelor's programme. It includes the preparation of a thesis of ½-1 year's duration.
Doctorates:
The Ph.D. degree is awarded after a total of normally 8 years of higher education and research, including the preparation and public defence of a thesis. Admission requirements are normally a candidatus degree and the programme itself lasts 3 years. A higher doctoral degree (dr. + field of study) can be obtained by mature researchers after years of individual and original research and public defence of a dissertation. There is no formal study programme for this award.
The adult education system
Alongside the ordinary higher education system, the adult education system offers Advanced Adult Education comparable to the level of short-cycle higher education, Diploma programmes comparable to the level of medium-cycle higher education, and Master's programmes (e.g. MBA) comparable to a long-cycle higher education level. Most programmes consist of 2 years of part-time study, equivalent to 1 year of full-time study. Admissi
