Admissions officer Lasse Jensen answers the most common questions from international applicants interested in our Bachelor's programmes.
Video: Aarhus Universitet
To be eligible to apply for admission to Aarhus University, you must meet the admission requirements.
There are two types of admission requirements:
1) you must have passed a qualifying examination
2) you must meet the specific admission requirements
The general and specific admission requirements for each degree programme must be met by all applicants who want to be considered, and must be met whether you are applying via quota 1 or quota 2. In special circumstances, however, it is possible to be granted exemption from the requirements.
To apply to Aarhus University you must hold a qualifying entry examination. This must be passed before 5 July in the year of the application (unless you are a quota 3 applicant).
If you have more than one finished entry examination, it is only the Grade Point Average (GPA) from the first exam that can be used in quota 1. A retake exam can never be used in quota 1.
The subject levels from additional exams can be used to fulfil the admission requirements.
A qualifying entry examination can never be outdated.
Most common qualifying entry examinations:
A full list of qualifying examinations can be found at the website for the Danish Agency for International Education
More details for international applicants here
Applicants with an international entry examination are advised to read our language requirements.
If you are unsure whether or not you fulfil the requirements for a desired programme, you are welcome to contact ba.admission@au.dk
In addition to having the qualifying examination, you must have specific upper secondary school subjects at certain levels to meet the specific admission requirements. You can fulfil the specific admission requirements through your qualifying examination or by supplementing.
You must have received a passing grade in your upper secondary subject levels in order for them to fulfil the specific admission requirements. This also applies if the level is taken as part of a qualifying examination. The pass requirement cannot be fulfilled by rounding up the grade.
You can supplement your qualifying examination, if you do not meet the specific admission requirements.
In Denmark, you can do this via Upper Secondary School Supplementing (GS) – only available in Danish.
Outside Denmark, the following international courses are generally recognised by Aarhus University:
You can contact our admissions office if you plan to take supplementary courses outside Denmark at ba.admission@au.dk. Please enclose a course description.
In Denmark, you also have the option to receive an individual assessment of your qualifications in order to fulfill one or more specific admission requirements. Contact an Adult Education Centre (VUC) to hear about individual assessments of your qualifications.
Assessment of your subject levels from your international entry examination is based on a comparison to the specific subject levels in the Danish upper secondary school/high school system.
Comparison of the subject levels is partly based on how many hours of teaching you have had in each subject. Therefore, you need to submit documentation from your school stating how many hours you have been taught in the relevant subjects during the last three years of upper secondary school. (1 lesson/hour = 60 minutes).
Please also note our specific language requirements to all Bachelor's degree programmes at Aarhus University.
Please note that it is not possible to improve your Grade Point Average for quota 1 by supplementing.
Aarhus University differentiates between two types of supplementary courses (ordinary and summer) - with two different deadlines:
| Supplementary courses completed before 5 July | Summer supplementing courses completed after 5 July but before 5 September |
| What can be supplemented? | One or several subjects and levels | One subject, One level |
Where to mark it in the application? | Mark it in your application at www.optagelse.dk. Please write which subject(s) you supplement as well as the end-date | Mark it in your application at www.optagelse.dk. Please write which subject(s) you supplement as well as the end-date. If you supplement during the summer, your application can only be considered for conditional admission. |
Do I need to document the enrolment? | No | No However, you must inform us that you are enrolled in the subject by 5 July at the latest |
| What is the deadline for submitting documentation to AU? | 5 July at the latest | 5 September at the latest |
| Can the grade be used for the quota 2 assessment (e.g. the quota 2 GPA)? | Yes | No |
| Can the grade be used for the quota 1 GPA? | No | No |
Aarhus University offers conditional admission to all Bachelor’s degree programmes at Aarhus University.
Provided that you by 5 July have earned a qualifying examination and you fulfil all the specific admission requirements but one, you may apply for conditional admission. This means that you may take a supplementary course (see more below) or an English test after the documentation deadline of 5 July. If you wish to apply for conditional admission you need to inform us by 5 July at the very latest and we need documentation for your passed supplementary course by 5 September at the very latest.
Please note that Aarhus University does not offer any supplementary courses or English tests.
For further information regarding conditional admission and summer supplement courses please read below.
If you have applied for conditional admission to a degree programme, you must document that you fulfil the specific admission requirements in question by 5 September. However, please note that the deadline for applying for conditional admission is 5 July just as the deadline for quota 1 applications and for submitting documentation in general.
If we do not receive your exam certificate by 5 September or if you fail the summer supplementary course your potential admission offer will be withdrawn.
It is possible to take supplementary courses in the autumn/winter but only provided:
Please note that indicating a preference for ‘winter start’ when applying to the programme in medicine does not mean that you are guaranteed admission with commencement of studies in the winter. Furthermore if you have been conditionally admitted to the programme in medicine and have been assigned to winter start without having indicated it as a preference, and if you fail the summer supplementary course, a dispensation allowing you to re-take the supplementary course in the autumn/winter may in some cases be granted.
You must document that you have passed the supplementary course for a degree programme with commencement of studies in the winter by 5 February.
If we do not receive your exam certificate from your supplementary course by 5 February or if you fail the supplementary course, the offer of admission will be withdrawn.
When you apply via optagelse.dk, you must indicate the subject and the level of the supplementary course you are enrolled in or expect to enroll in by 5 July at the very latest. This applies regardless of when you expect to complete your supplementary course(s). If you apply for conditional admission, your application will be processed as if you already fulfil the admissions requirements.
See the deadlines above.
As a rule you are only allowed to supplement one subject and one level up (for example, from C to B level or from B to A level).
Please be aware that if you are offered conditional admission to a degree programme and fail your supplementary course, you will not be offered admission to any of the degree programmes you have indicated as lower priority choices.
Provided that your exam can be assessed in both quota 1 and quota 2, your application will be considered in both quotas, if you apply for admission by 15 March and you fulfil the other admissions requirements. Your application to quota 2 will be assessed on the basis of the documentation you upload to www.optagelse.dk by 15 March. This means that you cannot improve a potential quota 2 grade point average by doing a summer supplementary course if the course is in the same year as you apply.
All bachelor's programmes at Aarhus University are taught in either English or Danish. To the Danish taught programmes applicants must document their Danish language qualifications and typically also their English language qualifications. To the English taught programmes all applicants must document their English qualifications.
Almost all bachelor’s programmes require qualifications comparable to a Danish secondary school English B level. However, some programmes require qualifications comparable to a Danish secondary school English A level.
English at level B and/or English at level A are fulfilled if you have passed the subject(s) in your Danish secondary school exam. If you do not meet the English subjects from your Danish secondary school exam you can fulfill the requirement by taking one of the English tests mentioned below.
Please also note that all applicants holding a foreign entrance examination and apply for English taught programmes must document their English qualifications with one of the following English tests.
Applicants who are exempted from submitting an English test are:
The majority of Aarhus University bachelor's programmes are taught in Danish and require a Danish A level.
Please note that if you have a non-Danish qualifying entry examination, then there is a specific admission requirement of Danish at A level for the Bachelor of Engineering programmes. However, this does not apply if you have a qualifying entry examination from Denmark.
Be aware that the Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Engineering programmes have a specific admission requirement of Danish at A level for all applicants.
Danish qualifications can be documented as follows:
Passed Danish A in a Danish secondary school exam ("gymnasium") or from VUC
The requirement of Danish A is fulfilled by Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Fins, Faroese, and Greenlanders by having passed Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian at the equivalent level. Icelanders can also meet the Danish A requirement, by having passed Icelandic at an equivalent level or the study test of Danish as a foreign language.
The study-test in Danish in combination with passed mother-tongue at the highest level is considered comparable to a Danish A level (the teaching language in the secondary school exam is considered the mother tongue and the grade from the mother tongue is used, provided the grade is convertible).
The Study-test in Danish must be successfully passed with grade 2 in each discipline. Applicants for medicine and odontology must pass the Study-test with a minimum of 7 in each discipline.
Applicants for Spanish and French must pass the Study-test with a minimum grade of 7 in the written discipline (and 2 in the other disciplines).
Applicants for International Business Communication must pass the Study-test with a minimum grade of 10 in each discipline.
Applicants with an International qualifying examination (e.g. International Baccalaureate) who have passed the Danish primary and lower secondary school leaving examination ("Folkeskolens Afgangsbevis - FSA" or "Folkeskolens Udvidede Afgangsbevis") can be granted exemption from the Danish A requirement, provided they document a full passed FSA along with passed mother tongue from their qualifying examination (the teaching language in the qualifying examination is considered the mother tongue and the grade from the mother tongue is used, provided the grade is convertible). Please be aware that Aarhus University only grants exemption if you have a full FSA in which reading, spelling, written production and oral must be passed. Aarhus University does usually not grant exemption from the Danish A requirement based on a diploma for Danish taken as a single subject at Danes World Wide (“folkeskolens afgangsprøve enkeltfag”) or Danish taken as a single subject comparable to the Danish level in the Danish lower secondary examination.
Applicants can meet the admission requirement of Danish at level A, if they on the basis of an individual competence assessment done by VUC in Denmark, have been issued a certificate with full recognition of Danish at level A
For further information and registration for "Studieprøven", please contact:
CLAVIS
Ingerslevs Boulevard 3
8000 Aarhus C
Tel.: +45 41 73 81 00
Email: clavis.aarhus@clavis.org
