UCPH braces for master's degree reform: »We can’t afford to get it wrong«

The Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund presented before the turn of the year the first programmes approved as part of a reform to master’s degrees. On the list of 18 new programmes, the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) was represented by just one — a business master’s degree in Computer Science.

This means that UCPH still has a way to go to meet the objective that has been mandated by politicians: 30 per cent of master’s programmes are to be restructured by 2032.

»We’re a little behind some of the other universities, you could say. But it takes time to develop good programmes,« says Prorector for Education Kristian C. Lauta to the University Post.

From frustration to »energy and resolution«

The controversial reform of Danish master’s degrees has set off criticism and frustration among university managements since it was announced in the summer of 2023.

But this opposition now seems to have been turned into optimism:

»There are still years to go before the programmes are fully developed, so initial frustration and anger can settle down and be replaced by energy and resolution. The new programmes should not be set up out of regret over what has been lost. They should be set up because it is exciting to build something new,« says the prorector.

This optimism is reflected in the shared UCPH principles which were set up over the summer for programme development.

The new master’s degrees need to be courses based on student demand. There should be no unemployment stemming from them. The reform should open up new possibilities for lifelong learning. And the implementation should be an opportunity for renewal, according to the description on KUnet.

Students need to be informed

With these principles as guidelines, UCPH faculties have been drafting outlines for the new master’s programmes since the summer of 2025.

These outlines will be submitted to the Rector’s Office at the end of January. In the Rector’s Office they will then be able to gain an overview of what the new master’s degree landscape will look like, says Kristian C. Lauta.

The drafts will then be discussed across UCPH, and in 2027 the university will begin seeking approval of the new programmes from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The final list of new master’s degrees is expected to be approved and published »well in advance« of the application deadline in March 2028, says Lauta:

»We need to be able to tell new students what the master’s landscape will look like and motivate them to see the new programmes as exciting opportunities. And of course, we’re dependent on a large number of employers wanting to co-develop and support the new business-oriented master’s degrees.«

The final list is not yet ready, but the contours of the new master’s landscape can already be glimpsed in an implementation plan for 2028 which UCPH submitted to the Danish parliament’s Education and Research Committee in July 2025 [in Danish].

It reveals that several programmes in the natural sciences — including Biology, Physics and Mathematics — will be partially restructured into master’s degrees with 75 ECTS credits. Cultural programmes like Visual Culture and Cross-Cultural Studies will also be converted into 75 ECTS models, while two health science degrees are to become business master’s programmes.

But according to Kristian C. Lauta, the plan should not be taken too literally:

»You can rely on the general outline, and we’ll do our best to meet the politically mandated distribution across academic fields. But in terms of the specific programmes, you can expect updates.«

»A task where we cannot afford to get it wrong«

University management is broadly positive about offering new programmes, but the prorector acknowledges that implementing the reform at UCPH is a massive undertaking.

What we want is to create new programmes so attractive that our own students will want to choose them

Kristian C. Lauta, Prorector for Education

»What remains — no matter what framework we got — is a colossal development task,« he says:

»We’re at a point where optimism is the only thing that helps. The work won’t get any better if we stop believing in it.«

The scale of the work makes this reform unusually difficult to implement. Unlike previous reforms, this one involves many tasks that need to be handled in parallel, the prorector explains:

»Normally, we can focus our pedagogical, academic, and administrative energies on one specific task. But this time, we have to focus on many tasks at once. How do you manage that while also working on an administration reform and aiming to be an innovative university that supports lifelong learning? This is the major challenge for a university like UCPH — and one where we can’t afford to get it wrong.«

No bottlenecks

The new master’s programmes raise questions about access and about prioritisation.

What happens, for instance, if half the places on the master’s in history are converted to 75 ECTS credit degrees, but 70 per cent of students with a legal right for admission want to take the traditional 120 ECTS credits version? Do you draw lots? Let grade averages decide?

The above mentioned implementation plan suggests that many of the restructured master’s degrees will not be ones with a legal right for admission. If this becomes the final strategy, the university avoids potential conflicts over rights.

Will you be able to restructure 30 per cent of the programmes by 2032 using master’s degrees without legal rights for admission?

»That is the strategy, but this is a bit simplified. What we really want is to create new programmes that are so attractive that our own students actually want to choose them. Only about 65 per cent of our master’s students are bachelor’s graduates with a legal right for admission. So there is still a large group of our own students who choose other master’s programmes,« says Kristian C. Lauta, and adds:

»This indicates there is already a fair amount of movement in the master’s degree landscape, so we shouldn’t worry that students won’t choose a new programme if we make a new exciting one.«

But if that doesn’t happen, surely you need a plan B?

»Even if all of our bachelor’s students with a legal right for admission continue in their current master’s programmes, we won’t run into problems in 2028 or 2030. That’s because our master’s intake is significantly supplemented by international students and students from other universities. In the worst-case scenario, we lose master’s students because we’ve just set up programmes that are just too poor — but I honestly can’t imagine that. And if it does happen, we’ll have time to adjust before 2032.«

This article was first written in Danish and published on 14 January. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.