As a consequence of the study progress reform, the rules on supplementary Bachelor’s courses have been changed.  The government’s policy is that as a general rule, degree programmes must be organised so as to minimise the need for supplementary courses, but without compromising their academic level. Supplementary courses should therefore be seen as an exception to the normal course of studies. The new ministerial orders which regulate students’ access to supplementary courses have been adopted. How the new rules will be implemented at Aarhus University has also been decided. 

• Where supplementary courses are permitted, (professional) Bachelor’s degrees may be supplemented with a maximum of 30 ECTS credits in supplementary courses.
• Supplementary course(s) of a maximum of 30 ECTS credits which are passed before or in the same semester as the completion of the Bachelor’s degree programme may be included in the assessment of the applicant’s basis for admission to a Master’s degree programme.
• Tuition fees will be charged for supplementary courses. Cases in which the applicant has acquired the necessary competencies as passed components of the standard degree programme are an exception to this.
• The rules on supplementary courses do not apply to applicants with medium-cycle higher education degrees (MVU), as these applicants must take supplementary courses in order to acquire competencies equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree in any case.

Supplementary courses after graduation from a (professional) Bachelor’s degree in exceptional cases

Taking supplementary courses between Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes, in other words after the completion of the Bachelor’s degree, is only possible in case of Master’s degree programmes with unrestricted admission. In such cases, the following rules apply:

• Supplementary courses may only be included in the evaluation of an applicant’s basis for admission if the university gives the applicant a guarantee of admission to the Master’s degree programme in question before the supplementary courses are taken.
• For students who have already acquired relevant competencies through passed supplementary courses or passed elements of a standard degree programme, there is a possibility of substituting the recommended supplementary courses with the already completed courses. Such substitution courses will not constitute part of the Master’s degree programme, but rather will count towards fulfilment of the admissions requirements. In these cases, a maximum of 30 ECTS credits of supplementary courses may be taken.

About the study progress reform

Read more about the study progress reform

• on the Ministry of Higher Education and Science website
• at students.au.dk

You must apply for admission to find out if you are qualified for a specific Master’s degree programme

The staff of the Admissions Office is generally unable to determine in advance whether or not you are qualified for admission to a specific Master's degree programme.

This means you must apply for admission in order to receive an assessment of your qualifications for a specific programme, unless something else is stated under the admission requirements for the programme in question.

Generally, admission to a Danish Master’s degree programme requires a Bachelor’s degree within the same specific area of study (except for a few programmes within the humanities that admit students from different areas of study).

There is no list or overview of Master’s degree programmes you can apply for with a specific Bachelor’s degree. To find out which Master’s programmes you can apply for, you have to look at how the admission requirements may match the contents of your Bachelor’s programme.

A pre-assessment of your foreign Bachelor's degree

The Danish Agency for Science and Education provides assessments of non-Danish degrees, diplomas and certificates and information about international recognition of qualifications.

Such assessments are very useful if you live in Denmark but completed your qualifying degree in a non-EU/EEA-country. If you do not live in Denmark, you should NOT apply for an assessment from The Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation. 

The assessment offered by The Danish Agency for Science and Education is a brief statement saying what your foreign qualifications correspond to in Denmark: Which educational level and, if possible, which field of education. It does not guarantee admission to specific programmes, as you must always meet the admission requirements of the desired programme.

To see if your Bachelor’s degree corresponds to a Danish Bachelor’s degree in level and length, you can use this link to find information about your own country. 

Restriction on entry

Some Master’s degree programmes have restricted admission, which means only a limited number of student places are available for a specific programme. For those programmes, only the most qualified applicants will be selected for admission according to the selection criteria announced for the programme.

In case of restricted admission, the selection criteria used to select among the qualified applicants will appear under the specific "admission requirements" of the individual Master's programme in the Study Guide.

Your chances of being admitted to a specific Master’s programme depend on the number of applicants this year and the level of qualifications of all the applicants. As the number of applicants varies from year to year, we cannot comment – based on previous year's records - on the likelihood of admission.

If you already hold a Master’s degree you can find more information about your possibilities of being admitted to a second Master’s degree programme under Students already holding a Master’s degree.

Students holding a foreign university degree applying for a Master’s degree programme taught in Danish must be proficient in Danish both orally and in writing.

It is a requirement for admission that you have passed Studieprøven i dansk som andetsprog (the “Study Test in Danish as a Second Language”) or the former “Danskprøve 2”.

Exemptions

Students from the Nordic countries who have had Danish, Norwegian, Swedish or Icelandic on the highest level as part of their entry qualification (high school) are not required to pass a Danish language test. Notification: From summer admission 2022, Iceland applicants must have had Danish at sufficient level. See the Nordic entry qualification subject levels.

Danish citizens with foreign entry qualifications (e.g. International Baccalaureate) are not required to pass a Danish language test if they can document that they have passed the Danish primary and lower secondary school leaving examination (Folkeskolens Afgangsprøve or Folkeskolens Udvidede Afgangsprøve).

The Study Test in Danish as a second language ("Studieprøven")

Studieprøven must be successfully passed with grade 2 in each of the four disciplines according to the new Danish 7-point grading scale, or if you have passed the test before 1 September 2007, grade 6 according to the former 13-point grading scale.

Please note that for some programmes the applicant is required to obtain a specific minimum grade in some or all of the four examination disciplines. This information will be stated under the specific 'admission requirements’ for the individual programme.

Studieprøven can be replaced by a written and oral examination at Higher Preparatory Examination (HF) level.

For further information and registration for "Studieprøven", please contact: LærDansk Language Centre.

What is the legal right of admission?

The legal right of admission to a Master’s degree programme was extended to three years as of 1 January 2019.

A completed Bachelor’s degree from a Danish university entitles the graduate to admission to a Master’s degree programme that is an extension of the completed Bachelor’s degree.

The Bachelor’s degree programme and the Master’s degree programme must be completed at the same university. The academic regulations for the specific Master’s degree programme will state which of the university’s Bachelor’s degrees gives you a legal right of admission.

When do you have a legal right of admission?

To exercise the legal right of admission, you must apply to a Master’s degree programme no later than three years after you completed your Bachelor’s degree. The three-year period is calculated starting with the summer intake immediately following the completion of your Bachelor’s degree and ending immediately after the summer intake three years later.

The right to admission can only be exercised once. You can withdraw a submitted application for admission at any time before the acceptance deadline on 15 June as long as you have not accepted an offer of admission. If you accept an offer of admission, you will have exercised your legal right of admission. This also applies also the case if you change your mind after accepting an offer of admission before the acceptance deadline.

If you completed your Bachelor’s degree before 1 January 2019, the extension of the legal right of admission does not apply to you. If you apply to a Master’s degree programme, you will be treated on equal terms with other applicants without a legal right of admission.

2019 was a transitional year with special deadlines
In 2019, it was possible to withdraw your acceptance of an offer of admission to a Master’s degree programme to which you had a legal right of admission until 31 July 2019 and still keep your legal right of admission, as the rules applied retroactively from 1 January 2019. 

Students who had begun a Master’s degree programme in spring 2019 and had completed their Bachelor’s degree after 1 January 2019 could thus choose to exercise the extended legal right of admission instead.

Application deadline

To retain the legal right of admission, you must apply to the relevant Master’s degree programme by the application deadline. See Aarhus University’s application deadlines.

The legal right of admission in relation to degree programmes with restricted admission

You should be particularly conscious of the legal right of admission if you want to apply for admission to a Master’s degree programme with restricted admission. As a legal right applicant, you are guaranteed a place on the Master’s degree programme, and other applicants will not be considered for admission until all legal right applicants have been offered a student place.

These might be applicants who either do not have a legal right of admission or have lost it. They might also be applicants with a Bachelor’s degree from another Danish university or applicants from a foreign university.

All applicants without a legal right of admission are assessed on an equal footing according to the same selection criteria, which will be described in the Master’s guide on the degree programme’s website on admission requirements.

The legal right of admission and tracks with restricted admission

The legal right applies to admission to a degree programme, but please note that you may not have a legal right of admission to degree programme tracks with restricted admission. You should therefore make sure to apply for multiple priorities.

The legal right of admission and rules on multiple degrees

The limitations on multiple degrees mean that as a general rule, it is only possible to enrol in a new post-secondary degree at equivalent (or lower) level six years after completion of the first post-secondary degree.

However, this rule does not apply to you if you were admitted to a Bachelor’s degree programme at Aarhus University no later than 1 February 2017 and have a legal right of admission to the Master’s degree to which you have applied.     

Legal framework

The Ministerial Order on Admission to and Enrolment on Master’s Degree Programmes at Universities and the Higher Artistic Educational Institutions under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science (the Master’s Degree Admissions Order including subsequent amendments).

The ministerial order is available in Danish only. 

Questions?

If you are unsure about how these rules apply to you, you are welcome to contact ma.admission@au.dk

In connection with the repeal of the degree programme cap, the so-called ‘Master’s degree rule’ will be reinstated as of 1 March 2020 and will come into force starting with 2020 summer admissions.

Under this rule, if you have already completed a degree programme which is equivalent to a Danish Master’s degree in level and length, you can only be admitted to another Master’s degree programme if there are available places on the programme after all of the qualified applicants who have not already completed a Master’s degree have been admitted.

The rules apply regardless of what country you took your Master’s degree in. The rules contain no transitional provisions.

Exemptions may be granted

The university can grant exemptions from the rule.

The university may grant an exemption if it finds that there are special circumstances, such as serious illness, which prevent you from using your completed Master’s degree to find work. Being unemployed or having a general desire to switch careers is not a valid ground for an exemption.

If you are granted an exemption, you will have a right to apply to one or more Master’s degree programmes on an equal footing with other applicants, as long as you meet the degree programme’s admission requirements.

Exemptions will always be granted on the basis of a specific individual assessment. In practice, the university will only be in a position to grant exemptions from the rule in exceptional cases.

Documentation

To apply for an exemption from the Master’s degree rule, use this form. Fill it out and upload it along with the relevant documentation together with your application for admission in the application system.

It’s important that you upload all of the relevant documentation so that we have sufficient material to base a decision on when we consider your application.

Required documentation

1.      Documentation of yourpreviously completed degree programme

2.      Documentation of unusual circumstances and loss of earning capacity, for example in the form of a medical certificate or medical records.

For some Master’s degree programmes with a limitation on intake, a calculation of the GPA for your entire Bachelor’s degree programme or selected relevant courses may be required.

It will also appear from the selection criteria of the relevant programme whether the calculation of the GPA is based on the grades submitted by the application deadline or based on grades from the entire completed Bachelor’s degree programme by the documentation deadline.

If the calculation of the GPA is based on the completed Bachelor’s degree programme, and an official total GPA is stated on the Bachelor’s diploma, this GPA will be used. Exempt are Danish diplomas with GPAs based on the 13 point grading scale, in which case the individual grades are converted to the new 12 point grading scale (the 7 scale) before the total GPA is calculated. 

Credit courses gained from other programmes or institutions that are transferred to the Bachelor’s programme without the grade are not included in the GPA.

Applicants who apply for admission based on qualifications from non-Danish universities must always upload documentation of the grading system and grading scale used in their home country or at their home university.

Conversion of Danish grades from the 13 point grading scale to the new 12 point grading scale (the 7 scale)

When Aarhus University calculates your GPA for selected courses or your entire Bachelor's degree programme, the individual grade is converted from the Danish 13 point scale to a grade on the Danish 12 point grading scale before the GPA is calculated.

The following conversion scale is used:

If you have grades from both Danish grading scales

Applicants with a combination of grades from the 13 point scale and the 12 point scale will first have their grades from the 13 scale converted to the 12 point scale according to the above conversion table. Then a simple GPA is calculated.

The ECTS grading scale

All new Danish diplomas are assigned with an additional ECTS grade corresponding to the Danish grade in accordance with the ECTS grading scale.

The ECTS grading scale is made by the European Commission and used to compare and convert grading systems between different European countries. The ECTS system consists of 7 grades (A to Fx) and has been the model for the new Danish 12 point grading scale (the 7 scale).

Conversion of grades from other countries than Denmark

Apart from the above official comparison between the ECTS grading scale and the Danish 12 point grading scale (the 7 scale), there are no official conversion tables between Danish and foreign grades.

Thus, when assessing applications for admission to Master’s degree programmes based on foreign qualifications, Aarhus University relies on the guidelines laid down by the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education in the Country handbook (information in Danish only) containing guideline conversion tables for a relatively small number of selected countries.

For countries where no guideline conversion tables exist, Aarhus University will perform a so-called linear grade conversion based on the lowest passing grade and highest possible grade on both grading scales (in Denmark, these grades are 2 and 12, respectively).

The individual foreign grade is calculated to a number with two decimal places between 2 and 12, and based on simple round-off it is converted to a full grade on the Danish 7 scale. This grade is then used in calculating the GPA.

Applicants with a combination of grades from Danish and non-Danish grading scales will have all their non-Danish grades converted to the Danish 12 point scale before the GPA is calculated.

The above calculation method is approved by the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education.