Better Nordic cooperation on access to higher education
Better cooperation within education was confirmed on 31 October when Higher Education Minister Morten Østergaard, together with his counterparts from Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the other Nordic countries signed agreements on access to higher education in Denmark.
All the agreements were signed in Helsinki where the ministers were gathered at a meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Greater compensation for Nordic students
The higher education minister signed a new agreement at the meeting with Sweden, Norway and Finland that entails Denmark receiving a greater compensation for Nordic students studying in Denmark – with an estimated increase in compensation of DKK 30 million. The agreement was reached after Morten Østergaard raised the issue with the other Nordic ministers earlier this year.
Joint declarations with the Faroe Islands and Greenland
The higher education minister also signed joint declarations with the Faroe Islands and Greenland respectively, which will ensure the continued equal access conditions for Faroese and Greenlandic applicants to higher education in Denmark.
– I am pleased that for the first time since the introduction of the scheme in 1997, the level of compensation has been raised. It is testament to strong, Nordic cooperation. It is also important that we continue to ensure that applicants from within the Danish Realm have the opportunity to apply for higher education in Denmark on an equal footing with applicants who have a Danish Upper Secondary School Leaving Examination. Applicants should not experience unnecessary barriers to admission, and it is very positive that we, with these agreements, have provided clarity for future applicants from the Faroe Islands and Greenland, says Morten Østergaard.
A reform of the Faroese high school education has given rise to a new joint understanding of Faroese students’ access to higher education in Denmark – the subject of Danish will in the future be offered as an optional A-level in Faroese high school instead of the former mandatory subject Danish A.
Morten Østergaard and the Faroese Minister of Education, Research and Culture Bjørn Kalsø have therefore signed a joint recognition that applicants with a Faroese high school examination meet the specific requirement of Danish A when applying to Danish higher education, even if they have not chosen Danish A as an optional subject.
It is also recognised that Faroese students, on the basis of their thorough knowledge of the Danish language through Danish education in primary school and Danish educational materials in high school, will have developed a solid knowledge of Danish; thereby ensuring their general study competences for higher education in Denmark. Furthermore, the subject Faroese A contains elements whereby the student must demonstrate knowledge of Nordic languages both written and oral – and this includes Danish.
The declaration also acknowledges that Faroese students who have studied both Faroese A and Danish A fulfil the specific requirement of Danish A and “another foreign language” as is required by the majority of university Bachelor programmes within the Humanities.
Morten Østergaard, together with his Greenlandic counterpart Palle Christiansen, also signed a joint declaration recognising that Greenlandic students who study the subject Greenlandic A meet the specific access requirements about “another foreign language”.
For further information please contact:
Press Officer Ingeborg Nielsen, tel.+45 2211 2000
Head of Division Søren Nedergaard, tel.+45 7231 8620
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