Here are the stats on student well-being, income, and grades at the University of Copenhagen

You want to make a positive difference in the lives of others

And that’s why you have made your choice of study programme. At least if you’re like 54 per cent of all new Danish students. This is especially true if you are a woman and over 26 years old. If you are a male student in your early twenties, you are more likely to have chosen your study programme for the cool cash. 31 per cent of students consider income prospects when choosing an education programme. Only six per cent – the same percentage of men as women – deliberately opt to exploit their grade point average to gain admission to a programme that not everyone can be admitted to.
Source: EVA

You are 21.5 years old

At least if you are the median age and have just started your bachelor’s degree. The youngest students are on Actuarial Mathematics, where the average age is 21.2 years of age; the oldest are on the Latin programme, where the new students are an average of 31.5 years. If you have just completed your master’s degree, you are 27 years old according to the stats. If you started at the age of 21, you spent one year longer than the prescribed time – congratulations! You did it before a new Danish university reform kicked in.
Source: University of Copenhagen 1, University of Copenhagen 2

You work a job 12 hours per week

68.1 per cent of all UCPH students have a paid job. This is on top of the — by international standards — generous Danish SU student grant. It is, on the other hand, helping you pay your exorbitant Copenhagen rent. You have probably secured a job that is somehow related professionally to your study programme. Especially at the Faculty of Social Sciences, where the majority have study-relevant work. There are many ministries, agencies and municipal departments in the Copenhagen area that need dedicated Excel warriors from the social sciences. In addition, 29.1 per cent of UCPH students do volunteer work on which they spend three hours a week.
Source: UCPH Study Environment Survey (2021), Trade union Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (DM)

You lie awake at night

52 per cent of UCPH students experience severe stress symptoms sometimes, often, or always. The number is disturbing. The expectations you have for your own performance, and generally having too much going on, is what ís putting most people under pressure. 33 per cent feel they cannot balance their study time and leisure time.
Source: UCPH Study Environment Survey (2021)

You are not alone in feeling alone

In fact, as many as 58 per cent of first-year students feel lonely at times. And half of all UCPH students feel lonely during their studies — either always, often, or just sometimes. We suggest taking a look at the websites www.foreningsliv-ku.dk/foreninger and www.kustudenteridraet.dk and trying your hand at kayaking, climbing or choir. Maybe you will not only help yourself, but also others in getting rid of that gnawing feeling of loneliness.
Source: EVA, UCPH Study Environment Survey (2021)

You know you can get professional help

You are probably one of the 55 per cent who know where you can get support and guidance on your programme. If not, you know now that the student counsellors, the university chaplains, the Student Counselling Service, or the SPS counsellors are only one call or an email away. Reach out!
Source: UCPH Study Environment Survey (2021)

You get support from your fellow students

79 per cent of students experience this. And 70 per cent state that the study environment increases their motivation to study. Perhaps you are even one of the 34 per cent of students who not only spend time with your study group for coursework, but also at board games, beer pong or needlework. There are 35 per cent of students who do not engage with their study environment. This is primarily because they don’t have time.
Source: UCPH Study Environment Survey (2021), Trade union Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (DM)

You are a woman

63 percent of new students at the University of Copenhagen are. On the Native American languages and culture programme, you can search in vain for new male students. There are none. At Audiologopedics — the study of of speech-, hearing-, spelling-, and reading disorders — 98 per cent are women. On the Dental Hygienist degree programme 97 per cent are women, and 95 per cent are women on the Domestic Animal Science programme. By contrast, Computer Science has 81 per cent new male students, Machine Learning and Data Science has 79 per cent and Computer Science-Economics has 73 per cent male students. On five of the seven programmes mentioned above, the distribution of male and female admissions is even more unequal this year than last year.
Source: University of Copenhagen

You earn less than your male fellow students

– and if you’re a man you earn more than your female classmates. Wage inequality is already starting now. Male students earn an average of DKK 13 more per hour than female students for the same study-relevant work, without it being possible to explain it in terms of differences in education, industry or seniority. In jobs that are not relevant to your studies, the difference is seven Danish kroner.
Source: Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (DM)

Let’s be honest: You are not going to complete your studies within the prescribed time

67 per cent spent one year more than the normed time to complete their bachelor’s degree. On the master’s degree programmes, students take further liberties, with 83 per cent completing their studies one year more than the prescribed study period. This is nothing, however, compared to their the parents’ generation which spent even longer on their study programmes.
Source: University of Copenhagen

You get the Danish grade 10 for your master’s thesis

Master’s theses from the University of Copenhagen in the year 2021-2022 were assessed to an average grade of 9.9. The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences tops the list with an average of 10.8. The bachelor projects at UCPH get an average of 9.6, so you can safely step out of the grade race and rely on the stats. It’s probably going to go better for you.
Source: University of Copenhagen