The Danish Education System

Education is compulsory in Denmark for everyone between the ages of six to seven and 16, but there is no obligation to receive education in a school-based setting.

After having completed nine or ten years of education in primary and lower secondary school, you may choose to attend either upper secondary school or vocational education and training. The duration of these programmes is from 18 months to five years and they are all regulated by the Ministry of Education.

If you wish to attend higher education, you may build on your upper secondary education in several different ways.

Academies of Professional Higher Education
The academies of professional higher education offer short-cycle higher education of approximately two years duration. It is possible to choose between a broad range of programmes within, for example, IT, technical fields, commerce and natural science. Common to all the programmes is their combination of practical and theoretical training.

University Colleges
The university colleges offer professional bachelor courses such as teaching, nursing, journalism and police training. The programmes take three to four years and are designated medium-cycle nonuniversity programmes.

University education
At the universities, you may attend an undergraduate programme (three years), a postgraduate programme (two years) and a PhD (three years) programme. These are also designated mediumcycle and long-cycle university programmes.

Artistic education programmes
Artistic education is regulated by the Ministry of Culture. The programmes range between four and six years, they are offered by state or independent institutions and cover fields such as arts, architecture, design, music, film and theatre.

Adult education and continuing training
Adult education and continuing training can be divided into three general categories: Formal qualifying education, non-formal qualifying education and private programmes. Teaching may be full-time but is typically part-time.

Master education
Master education is a form of adult education open to people that have completed an undergraduate programme, a postgraduate programme, or a medium-cycle higher education. Master programmes are primarily offered by universities.