About the programme

What are the causes, patterns and effects of international migration? What has been the fate of refugees seeking to escape the conflicts in Northern Africa and the Middle East? How will global warming affect human mobility in the future?

Admission and application

To apply for admission to this master's degree programme, you must have completed a qualifying bachelor’s degree or a similar Danish or international degree programme which is assessed to be relevant. Apply for admission via the application portal.

Below, you can read more about admission requirements and which documents to upload in the application portal. 

Academic admission requirements

Here you'll find the different academic requirements depending on which qualifying degree you hold.

Academic admission requirements

If you hold one of the degrees listed below, you are considered to automatically meet the requirements regarding relevance of academic qualifications:

  • A bachelor’s degree from a Faculty of Humanities or a Faculty of Social Sciences with minimum 30 ECTS within migration related topics.

In order to proceed with your application please refer to the application procedure.

Check which master’s programmes at UCPH your bachelor programme is pre-approved for admission to. Please note that the admission tool is only available in Danish.

The faculty may admit applicants other than those mentioned above if it is assessed that the applicant has a bachelor’s degree equivalent to a degree from a Faculty of Humanities or a Faculty of Social Sciences with minimum 30 ECTS within migration related topics.

In order to proceed with your application please refer to the application procedure.

Language requirements

Applicants to an English-taught master's degree programmes at the Faculty of Humanities are required to document their English language proficiency in accordance with the language requirements for admission. Read more about the language requirements below. 

Application deadlines

Study start in September

1 March at 23:59

Application deadline for Danish applicants and applicants from within the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Open for applications from 16 January. You will receive a reply by 10 June.

15 January at 23:59

Application deadline for applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Open for applications from 15 November. You will receive a reply by 1 May.

Submit your application

How to apply

Choose your category and read how to apply for admission. You can also find information about deadlines and documentation requirements. 

Please note that you must also select according to your citizenship:

  • Citizen from Denmark, EU, EEA or Switzerland (EU)
  • Citizen from countries outside EU, EEA or Switzerland (NON-EU)

If you are a citizen in Denmark, EU, EEA or Switzerland

If you already hold a master’s degree or completed master’s level courses you must be aware of the following rules:

I have completed a master’s degree

If you have already completed a master's degree corresponding to a Danish master’s degree please refer to the rules concerning a second degree.

I have completed individual master’s level courses

If you previously completed master’s level courses, you must inform the Faculty of Humanities in your application when applying for admission to the programme.

You must include documentation for your completed courses. The Faculty of Humanities assess if your credits can be transferred after admission to the programme.

How your application is assessed

Admission to the programme is competitive and limited to 45 students. 

The applicants who meet the academic requirements will be evaluated and ranked in accordance to the selection criteria below. The specified percentage is to show the weighted relevance of each criteria when the application is evaluated. If the number of qualified applicants exceeds the maximum student intake, students will be selected on the basis of their ranking. The highest ranked of the qualified applicants get an offer to join the programme.

Selection criteria

  • Academic relevance of the applicant’s bachelor’s degree, in relation to the MA in Advanced Migration Studies profile, and academic excellence (50%).
  • Academic relevance of the information provided in the portfolio, in relation to the MA in Advanced Migration Studies profile (50%).
  • The portfolio consists of your CV (1 page), your letter of academic relevance (1 page) and/or practice experience within migration related fields (1 page).
Admission statistics Advanced Migration Studies 2023
Admitted 36
Admission distribution (legal right/other) 0% / 100%
Applicants 275
Age average 25
Legal gender distribution (cpr. - m/f) 6% / 94%
Nationality (dk/international) 11% / 89%
Available spots No

Programme structure

The MA in Advanced Migration Studies is organised and administered by Centre for Advanced Migration Studies (AMIS) in association with the Saxo Institute, and is unique in drawing on a very comprehensive research environment of more than 50 scholars affiliated with AMIS, covering a wide range of academic disciplines.

The table below illustrates how the subject elements are distributed across the semesters. 

Year 1

Semester 1Semester 2
International migration (15 ECTS)Key Concepts and Analytical Approaches in Migration Studies (15 ECTS)
Researching migration - methodological approaches (15 ECTS)Migration and Societies – Practices and Arenas (15 ECTS)

Year 2

Semester 3Semester 4

Choose 30 ECTS among the following: 

  • Extended Academic Internship (30 ECTS) or:
  • Academic internship (15 ECTS)
  • Free topic 1 (15 ECTS)
  • Free Topic 2 (15 ECTS)
Master's Thesis (30 ECTS)

Career opportunities

Migration and mobility pervade and transform today’s societies and have done so throughout history. Virtually every aspect of society is influenced and shaped by migration, including labour markets, education systems, culture, politics, religion and civil society. These developments present both opportunities and challenges. Opportunities may involve filling labour market shortages, as well as development and cultural enrichment; while challenges concern catering for the needs of refugees, the brain drain in developing countries, and preventing tensions and conflicts between cultural groups in host societies.

The MA in Advanced Migration Studies adopts an interdisciplinary approach in each course included in the programme.

Throughout the programme, different approaches are combined, for example:

  • contemporary patterns of migration are contextualised by historical accounts of the role of migration;
  • immigration and integration policies are scrutinised using both philosophical analysis of their underlying values and anthropological analysis of their impact on the everyday lives of migrants;
  • the experience of being a migrant is investigated both through migrant literature (and other artistic expressions) and ethnographic accounts of the lives of migrants; and
  • migrant identity formation (and counter-identification) are studied on the basis of both sociolinguistic and sociological accounts of identity.

Students obtain a range of high-level competences as regards multi-dimensional analyses of migration and integration in a wide range of contexts, including the competence to understand the causes, patterns and effects of international migration, understand and use both quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as cultural analysis, analysis of diversity politics, analysis of the role of religion in diverse societies, conflict analysis, and diversity management and administration.

Career Opportunities

The Master's programme in Advanced Migration Studies qualifies for a career in political institutions concerned with immigration and integration policies (e.g. at the national level and in local government), private companies facing the challenges of diversity management and recruitment of international talent, unions and organisations concerned with migrants in the labour market and various aspects of immigration and integration, NGOs making policy recommendations and assisting public institutions to cater for migrants, private companies providing analyses of issues related to migration to national and local government, cultural institutions committed to representing the history, culture and artistic expressions of migrants, as well as universities and other research institutions.

Student life

Student involvement

Students are invited and expected to participate in the life of the Centre for Advanced Migration Studies (AMIS), including research events such as conferences, workshops and talks.

Libraries

Saxo Library

There are nine departmental libraries on South Campus. The Saxo library holds the collections and academic litterature for Prehistoric Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Ethnology, Greek & Latin, History, Applied Cultural Analysis and Advanced Migration Studies. You can find information about the all the departmental libraries and the opening hours here.

The Royal Library on South Campus

The campus branch of the Royal Library houses an extensive collection on the humanities,
has free wireless internet access, and contains 400 workspaces for students to study.

The Royal Library

The main branch of the Royal library is a popular and centrally-located harbourfront place
for students to study. It has free wireless internet and numerous workspaces for study, and
also houses art and photo exhibitions. Visit the Royal Library website.

Etnologisk Fagråd (SCEMA)

Etnologisk Fagråd – In English known under the abbreviation SCEMA. SCEMA stands for: The Student Council of European Ethnology, Master of Applied Cultural Analysis and Advanced Migration Studies. SCEMA helps create an academic environment grounded in a community of science and fellowship, which establishes a room for discussion and fellowship among classes. The student council is a volunteer association that arranges social and academic events and functions as the link between students and the management, administration, and teachers of SAXO.

Student Life on Campus

South Campus at University of Copenhagen offers several cosy meeting points for students.

Read more abouth South Campus

Students at the faculty use the cafés during their breaks to meet up with fellow students or even lecturers. In the evenings the Faculty is often used for cultural events and café nights.

The Meeting Point ("Café Mødestedet")
This café offers coffee, hot chocolate, cold beer, light lunches and a variety of confectionery. The café stocks various games and has its own pool table.

Departmental cafés
Each department at the Faculty of Humanities has a student café, run by student volunteers from the department. The cafés offer a cosy environment where you can meet fellow students, read newspapers, play board games and buy cheap coffee and snacks. Student groups arrange study circles with representations from authors, artists and intellectuals and mutual discussions of relevant academic subjects. Furthermore the student cafés arrange Friday café nights often with different themes. There are often international student cafés during the semester where you'll get the opportunity to meet other international students and their mentors. We definitely recommend you to experience the atmosphere of the student cafés as the social life of many Danish student revolves around these cafés.

Student parties
Most of the departments at the faculty have a party committee which arrange
parties and other social events. Your student identity card gives you access to all
student parties at the faculty - also at other departments than the one you are
enrolled at. Usually it is possible to bring a guest under the condition that you have
obtained a guest ticket from the organizers of the party. Faculty parties are
announced through posters on campus.

Sports and student associations and clubs

There is a wide range of associations and clubs at University of Copenhagen. The associations and clubs can be found within all levels of University of Copenhagen. Please visit Studenterhuset's list of more than 100 different associations and
organisations. 

To find more local associations on department or programme level, please refer to your department, posters on campus, social media and your fellow students. 

The students' sports association is KSI (University of Copenhagen student sports association). Signing up normally takes place in August, although it is possible to join at later dates if slots are free on the teams. KSI offers a wide range of different disciplines both on the southern campus and on other locations around Copenhagen. To find information about programmes, prices and contact please visit the KSI website.

Finding Housing

If you are looking for a place to live, please visit University of Copenhagen general information about finding housing.

Contact student guidance

Questions regarding application and admission

Contact us if you have questions regarding:

  • the online application portal
  • application procedures

E-mail:

Phone:

  • You can call us on Wednesdays between 10:00-12:00: +45 35 32 45 45.
  • The office is closed for phone calls on public holidays, during week 42 and throughout July.

Questions regarding the academic content

Contact us if you have questions regarding the following:

  • The academic content of the study programme
  • Structure of the master’s degree programme
  • Career opportunities

Please note that your Bachelor's degree programme cannot be assessed in advance in relation to the admission requirements.

Contact student counselling services' office

Location

  • Faculty of Humanities, South Campus, Karen Blixens Plads 8, DK-2300 København S.

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