Bangladesh student row escalates — new consultation for minister

The case of the many Bangladeshi students who have been admitted to Danish universities in recent years is turning into a real headache for the Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund (Moderates Party).

On Tuesday 16 September, she once again faced tough questions in a parliamentary consultation. This time she was joined by her Social Democrat government partner, the Minister for Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek.

READ ALSO: Surge in Bangladeshi student applications has minister concerned

The night before, a bombshell hit the Danish university sector when the chair of the Board at Roskilde University (RUC), Carsten Toft Boesen, announced that he would be stepping down. This happened after a meeting with the minister Christina Egelund on the same day.

The conversation with the minister was after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had, over the weekend, lashed out at RUC’s handling of the rising number of applicants from Bangladesh. RUC is one of the universities that has admitted the most students from Bangladesh.

Through freedom of information requests, the news site Berlingske had revealed that the large number of students from third countries was a way for RUC to shore up its finances, as the students are required to pay tuition. This meant that nearly one in six new master’s students at RUC in 2024 came from Bangladesh.

At the same time, and with the resignation of the Board chair, RUC announced that it is shutting down the master’s programme Business Administration and Leadership, which had seen the highest intake. Only current students and those with a legal entitlement to do so will be allowed to complete the programme.

According to the rector of RUC, Hanne Leth Andersen, the decision is a drastic, but necessary, step to restore calm and »contribute constructively to solving a problem that the whole sector is facing,« as she stated in a press release.

Four policy mechanisms

The number of Bangladeshi students in Danish master’s programmes has increased by a factor of twenty since 2018, and they now make up about 13 per cent of all international master’s students.

With a student visa, young people from third countries not only gain access to education, but also the right to work 90 hours a month in Denmark — and full-time during the summer holidays. A spouse accompanying them can work without restrictions. Critics have warned that student visas are being used as a backdoor into the Danish labour market.

Several studies from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science have also shown that students from Bangladesh are far less likely than other international students to complete their programmes, and Danish universities have reported academic challenges among those that have been admitted from the South Asian country.

At Tuesday’s consultation, the Danish People’s Party, the Liberal Alliance, and the Denmark Democrats were most insistent in demanding answers from Christina Egelund about what the government intends to do.

The minister again explained that the government intends to close the current loophole that has allowed the influx of students.

According to the minister, the government is looking at four policy options. It will:

• Investigate whether current rules allowing a spouse (who can work full-time) to accompany the student on a study permit should be changed.
• Consider whether tuition fees should be increased. At the most recent consultation, it emerged that tuition prices at Danish universities are generally low compared to other EU countries.
• Tighten admission requirements for master’s programmes and make it easier for universities to detect fraud with exam certificates, to ensure that international students have the necessary academic qualifications.
• Strengthen monitoring of study activity so that students from third countries who are not actively studying can be deregistered. This would lead to the foreign students losing their residence permits in Denmark.

Lengthy lead-up to investigation

Opposition politicians repeatedly pressed Christina Egelund on when she had become aware of the significant rise in the number of students, especially from Bangladesh.

Several universities — including the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) — had, in years past, sought advice from the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science on how to handle the sharp increase in applications.

The minister explained at the consultation that she became aware of the issue in March, and that on 3 April she had launched an investigation to clarify the scope of the problem across Denmark’s eight universities.

This investigation, which consisted of six main questions, was not sent out to the universities until June.

Several opposition politicians were still not satisfied with the minister’s explanations, however, and did not rule out calling for a third consultation.

This article was first written in Danish and published on 17 September 2025. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.