Universitetsavisen
Nørregade 10
1165 København K
Tlf: 35 32 28 98 (mon-thurs)
E-mail: uni-avis@adm.ku.dk
University of Copenhagen
Independent of management
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Student life
Dorms Disclosed — You don't need to be a law student to get a room in the small Collegium Juris, where Danish and international students share their culture, and their daily lives, with each other.
Collegium Juris is located right in the heart of the central Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, but not many people apart from the dormitory’s 53 residents know about it. And not many are aware of the fact that you do not need to study law to live in the residence hall – even though law students do have priority in the application process.
Collegium Juris:
Address: Nørre Allé 6, 2200 Copenhagen N
Monthly rent: DKK 4,000-5,800
Average age: 24
Application process: Motivation letter application via the college website. You must be enrolled on a longer Danish higher education programme, have passed at least 120 ECTS credits, and have what corresponds to a grade point average of at least 7 in the Danish system. Preference for law students.
Behind the slightly anonymous façade from the year 1917, without even a name on the dormitory, a mix of Danish and international students share their daily life (and kitchen – but not toilet and shower!) with each other. The residence hall opened in 2012 after a renovation by the same company that did the Tietgenkollegiet in the Amager district.
Collegium Juris was initially founded with the purpose of being both academic, and international.
»At the same time, it is also a social dorm, of course,« says resident Henriette Lyngkrogh. The residence hall has a reading room and aims for a 50/50 mix of Danish and international students.
It is also because of the residence hall’s academic focus that – technically speaking – there is a requirement that you need to have passed 120 ECTS with a grade point average of 7 or more in order to stay there.
SEE THE FULL ‘DORMS DISCLOSED’ UNIVERSITY POST SERIES: Reviews by student residents of dorms and residence halls in Copenhagen
»But just apply anyway, right?« says Emilie Løbner Schefferling, who with Henriette Lyngkrogh sits in the so-called nomination Committee, which assesses applications.
»It’s much more about who you are as a person. Whether you want to live in a dorm and why you want to live in a dorm. Not whether or not you have above 7 as a grade average.«
There is good social cohesion across all four floors, according to Emilie Løbner Schefferling.
»It means a lot that the residence hall is not that big. It makes a difference. I moved in during the corona crisis, so I walked into a bubble that had become like a small family who just went about taking care of each other.«
Dorms disclosed
There are loads of dormitories, kollegiums, and student residences in Copenhagen, yet most of the information available is in Danish.
Some are small, old houses with pretty gardens, others are giant concrete buildings with tiny windows.
This is a review by a student reporter. But in the Dorms Disclosed series, it is the residents themselves that review the dorms that they live in.
Here is an overview with links to all of the dormitory and student accommodation reviews we have published so far, written by the people who know them the best.
If you want to write an English-language review of your dorm write to uni-avis@adm.ku.dk with ‘Dorms Disclosed’ in the subject header.
The residents get to know each other through the course of their daily lives, but also at film evenings, parties, and sit-down dinners, including international dinners, where the many exchange students’ cooking skills are exploited to the fullest. One resident from Mexico, for example, brought grasshopper salt and worm salt to Henriette Lyngkrogh’s kitchen. Feast days and public holidays from different countries are often celebrated in the kitchens, and football matches are more exciting than usual when you root for different countries’ teams, says Henriette Lyngkrogh.
The rooms, which are all equipped with their own toilet and bathroom, vary in size, and the monthly rent is between DKK 4,000 and DKK 5,800. Residents have, in addition, access to a communal kitchen on each floor, where each of the residents’ cupboards is decorated in dorm style with newspaper clippings and pictures that showpiece the owner. The kitchen also serves as a living room with a couch and TV, and there is a common room, washroom, training room, and reading room in the basement. The first floor has a balcony with a barbecue, and a hammock that opens out to the residence hall’s communal green garden.
The communal rooms are also used for the annual gala ceremony, where the guests, apart from the residents themselves, include alumni. The speaker last year was lawyer and debater Jacob Mchangama. At the ‘Fellow’s Day’, which is held annually, the residents hand out positions in the various social and academic committees that organise dormitory life.
»The people we get in are people who really want to take the initiative and do some partying. The people who would like to live here for the life of a dorm student and not just to have a room.«
You do not need to clean anything else than your own room. Paid cleaning assistance for the kitchens and other communal areas is part of the bargain when you sign a tenancy contract.
[This review has been written by a student reporter at the University Post. If you want to write an English-language review of your dorm write to uni-avis@adm.ku.dk and mark it ‘Dorms Disclosed’]
READ ABOUT OTHER RESIDENCE HALLS AND DORMS HERE: Student housing reviews: Dorms and residences in Copenhagen