Danish university acceptances fall by 2 per cent

Universities in Denmark accepted more than 65,000 students this year, a fall of 2 per cent compared with 2016.

This is the first year since 2008 that the number of university places accepted by students has fallen, but the country’s higher education minister said that there was no cause for concern over the figures.

About a quarter of the almost 92,000 students who applied for a university place did not secure one.

Søren Pind, Denmark’s minister for higher education, said:  “It’s nothing that one should be worried about. On the contrary, we should celebrate the fact that young people appear to be focusing on where they can actually find jobs after [their education].”

Mr Pind reportedly told the Politiken newspaper: “We’ve seen an enormous increase in the number of acceptances over the past several years and sooner or later – as a consequence of available funds and the discussions on the quality of the education institutions – it had to stop." 

He added that IT and engineering programmes accepted a higher number of students in 2017 compared with 2016, but that arts, humanities and education programmes accepted fewer. 

holly.else@timeshighereducation.com