Application and admission to master's degree programmes

Get an overview of when and how you apply for admission to a master's degree programme at the University of Copenhagen. 

In order to apply for admission to a master's degree programme, you must have a qualifying bachelor's degree or a corresponding Danish or international degree which we assess as relevant.

Application deadline for master’s degree programmes

Application deadlines for the individual master's degree programmes may vary. Some programmes admit students twice a year, while others only in September.

Most of the programmes taught in Danish has no special deadline for applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland. For those programmes, the 1 March/15 October deadline applies to all applicants. 

See the complete list of UCPH's master's programmes

Applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland

There are two application deadlines for applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

Study start in September

15 January at 23:59

The application portal opens on 15 November. You will receive a reply by 13 March.

All programmes have study start in September

Study start in February  (legal right of admission only)

15 October at 23:59

The application portal opens on 15 August. You will receive a reply by 10 December.

All programmes have study start in September

The list of master’s degree programmes with study start in February 2027 will be available no later than 1 July 2026.

Applicants from within the EU, EEA and Switzerland

There are two application deadlines for Danish applicants and applicants from within the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

Study start in September

1 March at 23:59

The application portal opens on 16 January. You will receive a reply by 15 May.

All programmes have study start in September

Study start in February  (legal right of admission only)

15 October at 23:59

The application portal opens on 15 August. You will receive a reply by 10 December.

All programmes have study start in September

The list of master’s degree programmes with study start in February 2027 will be available no later than 1 July 2026.

Vacant student places

Vacant places on master's degree programmes will be published from May through July. List of vacant places

Apply as current or previously enrolled student

If you are currently enrolled in a master's programme or have been previously, you must find out whether you are to apply for admission, readmission, re-enrolment, transfer, or change of programme.

Entrance qualifications

To apply for admission to a master's degree programme at the University of Copenhagen, you must have a qualifying bachelor’s degree or a corresponding Danish or international degree which we assess as relevant.

All master's programmes have specific admission requirements which you must also fulfil.

You can find the admission requirements under the individual master's degree programme, where you can also see if the programme is subject to restricted admission. You can also read how UCPH allocates the places if the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of places.

We have developed a tool that shows which master's degree programmes at UCPH you can apply for with your bachelor's degree.

See the programmes your bachelor's degree is pre-approved for

Bachelor with a legal right of admission

As a bachelor with a legal right of admission, you are entitled to admission at a master's degree programme, which has a natural continuation of your bachelor's degree programme's subject area.

You have legal right of admission for master's programmes at the University of Copenhagen if you fulfil the following criteria:

  1. You have completed a bachelor's degree from the University of Copenhagen
  2. The master's programme is the natural continuation of your bachelor's degree.

If you have legal right of admission you are guaranteed a place in the master's programme which is the continuation of the bachelor's degree.

You can wait up to three years before using your legal right of admission. Meaning, you must start your master's studies within three years (and a few months) of completing your bachelor's degree.

The calculation of the three years begins with the first summer admission after you have completed your bachelor's degree and ends immediately after the summer admission three years later. For example:

  • If you completed your bachelor's degree in July, you must apply for admission with study start in September within three years and one month later.
  • If you completed your bachelor's degree in February, you must apply for admission with study start in September within three years and seven months.

Language requirements

Unless you apply with a bachelor's degree which provide legal right of admission, you must document that you fulfil the language requirements.

English language requirement

When you apply for admission to a master's degree programme, you must document your English language proficiency, which means you must have passed English (level A or B) at upper-secondary school level. 

If you cannot provide documentation for the language requirement, you can take a language test approved by UCPH, for example TOEFL or IELTS.

Danish language requirement

If you apply for admission to a master's degree programme taught in Danish, you must have acquired Danish language skills prior to admission equivalent to level A Danish at upper-secondary school level. 

If you cannot provide documentation for the language requirement, you can take a language test approved by UCPH, for example the study test (studieprøven).

See how you document the language requirements

How to apply for admission

You apply for admission through the online application portal.

In order to apply for admission to a master's degree programme, you should read the admission- and documentation requirements for the specific study programmes. The requirements vary from programme to programme.

 You can find a link to the application portal on the programme's website.

Read the user guide to the application portal

The application procedure can vary depending on your citizenship, bachelor's degree, and the study programme you you wish to apply for. 

Before you apply for a master’s programme, please read the programme description.

Admission to a master’s degree programme requires specific documentation which must be submitted together with the application. Please read the programme description carefully before submitting your application. 

Data exchange – sending documentation is easy

If you have a bachelor's degree from a Danish university, you can automatically transfer your data by using the data exchange feature. 

See the user guide to the application portal.

Please check that all data about your exams have been transferred. It is your responsibility to make sure that the University of Copenhagen receives the documentation. This means that you must upload the documentation manually if the data exchange is unsuccessful.

If you manually submit documentation for your bachelor’s degree (for example, transcript of grades or diploma), UCPH will contact the university at which you earned your degree and ask them to verify the documentation.

Please note that we do not accept documentation in Word format. We accept files in PDF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, and XLSX.

  • You can apply for up to three degree programmes at the University of Copenhagen.
  • If you want to make sure to be admitted through your legal right, you must enter the programme for which you have a legal right of admission as your first priority.
  • Your prioritisation is binding after the application deadline and cannot subsequently be changed.
  • You will only receive one offer of admission/conditional admission from the University of Copenhagen
    (meaning that applications for other programmes of lower priority will lapse when you are offered a place).
  • You can apply for an additional three programmes if vacant places are available in the second application round.

You will receive a reply to your application for admission to the master’s degree programme via the application portal. You will be notified by email when the answer is ready in the portal. Remember to check your spam folder as the email might be flagged as spam. Please use an email account that you always have access to, and not one that will be deactivated after you have completed your bachelor’s programme. 

We recommend that you do not use your student e-mail account for your application as some universities close student accounts upon completion of the bachelor's degree.

You can login to the application portal continuously to check the application status and read messages from UCPH.

Applications are assessed on an ongoing basis, and you can receive an offer for admission at any time after the application deadline.

Applicants from EU/EEA countries

  • If the programme’s application deadline is 1 March, you will receive a reply by 15 May.
  • If the programme’s application deadline is 15 October at 23:59, you will receive a reply by 10 December.

Applicants from countries outside the EU/EEA

  • If the programme’s application deadline is 15 January at 23:59, you will receive a reply by 15 May.
  • If the programme’s application deadline is 1 September, you will receive a reply by 1 December.

Please remember to accept the offer of admission if that is what you want. If the faculty approves your application, you will receive an offer of admission in the application portal. You must login to the portal and accept or reject the place by the deadline.

You find the deadline in your letter of admission.

Usually, it is not possible to submit an application after the application deadline.

You can apply for dispensation

If exceptional circumstances have prevented you from submitting your application within the deadline, you may apply for an exemption from the deadline.

Exemptions in exceptional circumstances

Exceptional circumstances may, for example, be where sudden serious illness has prevented you from submitting your application within the deadline. Serious illness and death in the immediate family, close to the application deadline, may, depending on the circumstances, also be grounds for being granted an exemption.

In general, it is a prerequisite for you to be granted an exemption if the circumstances that prevented you from registering on time have to a large extent been beyond your control. 

Exemptions are not granted on the basis of:

  • Delay
  • Forgetfulness 
  • Lack of knowledge of the deadline

If you experienced technical problems with the application system before the application deadline and you can prove this with screenshots including a time indicator, this may also be considered a reason for exemption.

How and when?

If you wish to apply for an exemption, you must submit your application for exemption to the university as soon as possible at admissions@ku.dk. Enclose documentation of the exceptional circumstances that prevented you from meeting the application deadline.

If you are granted an exemption from the application deadline, it means that we will process your application.

Can I supplement my bachelor's degree?

According to Danish legislation, UCPH can only consider your bachelor’s degree when assessing whether you meet the admission requirements. That means that you cannot take supplementary courses between your bachelor's and master's degree programme in order to meet the admission requirements.

The only exceptions are courses/projects you have passed before completing your qualifying bachelor's degree. Such courses/projects can be included in the assessment, also if they are not part of the bachelor programme. However, a maximum of 30 ECTS credits can be included.

 7-point-scale and the international European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) are used on all Danish state-regulated degree programmes.  

Improved grades

An improved grade cannot be included in the assessment, as, in Denmark, it is not possible to improve a grade for courses already passed. However, grades that are changed following a complaint against the original grade will be considered. In such cases, it must be clear that the grade has been improved after a complaint.

All applicants from non-Danish universities must upload a complete transcript of grades showing all exam attempts, the dates of each exam attempt and exam results.

UCPH may do random checks of applicants’ basis for admission to the home university. Any fabricated documentation of grades may lead to disenrolment from the degree programme.

Credit transfer and other master's degrees

Credits for previously passed courses

When applying for admission to a master's degree programme, you are obliged to provide information about passed elements on uncompleted master’s programmes and to apply for credit transfer. To apply for credit transfer means that you apply for previously passed exams to replace some of the exams on your new programme.

Compulsory credit transfer

You must apply for credit transfer as it is a legal requirement according to Danish legislation. That means that, in your application, you are obliged to inform UCPH about passed courses on uncompleted programmes in accordance with section 37 of the Danish Admission Order.

Voluntary credit transfer

You can also apply for credit transfer for completed elements on a higher education programme at another level. Immediately after the study start, contact the student counsellor on your new programme to ask about the procedure.

Academic assessment of passed activities

UCPH makes an academic assessment of your passed exams. If these exams are relevant to your new programme, we will approve the credit transfer.

Restrictions if you already have a master's degree

If you already have a master's degree from Denmark or another country that corresponds to a Danish master's degree, you can, in principle, only be admitted to a new degree programme if there are places available on the programme for which you are applying for admission. 

We can only grant exemptions from the Master's degree rule in exceptional circumstances.

We may grant a dispensation from the master’s degree admission rule if we consider that, due to exceptional circumstances, you are without working capacity in your profession and therefore can no longer use your master's degree in the labour market. For example, if you are a veterinarian and have been diagnosed with fur allergies, or if you are a surgeon and have lost the use of your limbs.

You must apply for a dispensation at the same time as you apply for admission on the digital application portal. You must write a short free text explaining why you cannot use your existing master's degree on the labour market and upload it together with your application for admission. In addition, you must upload documentation that confirms what you have written in your free text. This may, for example, be a medical certificate or a medical record that you received when your loss of working capacity was established.

If you have a non-Danish master's degree and are unsure if it corresponds to a Danish master's degree, you can contact the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education. They can assess whether your degree corresponds to a Danish master's degree. 

If you have received an assessment of your master's degree from the Agency, you must upload it on the application portal together with your application for admission to the University of Copenhagen.  

If your non-Danish master's degree corresponds to a Danish master's degree, you are subject to the master's degree admission rule. If you have a medical or dentistry degree, you must inform us if you are registered with the Danish Health and Medicines Authority. 

If you have an education where you can work in other regulated professions (e.g. lawyer or psychologist), you can read more about the rules for this at the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education.

Application deposit fee and tuition fee

Application deposit fee

The following only applies to citizens from countries outside the EU/ EEA and Switzerland. 

Citizens from countries outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland, you must pay an application deposit fee. 

Learn more about the application deposit fee

Tuition fee

Applicants who are citizens in countries outside the EU/ EEA and Switzerland must pay a tuition fee. Applicants with a permanent residence permit in Denmark – or a permit with the possibility of permanent residence in Denmark – are exempt from the rule. Read more:

Learn more about tuition fee

Scholarships

When planning to study at the University of Copenhagen, you need to make a budget and assess whether you have sufficient funding for your studies. 

Learn more about scholarship opportunities

Residence permit

If you are not a Danish citizen, you may need a residence permit. Read more:

Learn more about residence permit

Contact the student guidance office

Do you have questions about the application procedure?

See the instructions and videos in our user guides to the application portal.User guide to the application portal

Student guidance

If you cannot find the answer in the guides to the application portal, you can read our FAQ or contact the student guidance office who can answer your questions.

Find answers to frequently asked questions

Contact the student guidance office