Look yourself up! What your studies earn for your university

You gamble more than your pride and your academic career when you enter the exam room. The Danish so-called taximeter system means that your passing your exams also finances your university, enabling it to offer its students quality education. In the 2015 budget around one fourth of the University of Copenhagen (UCPH)’s total income is from student taximeters, and nearly all of the money earmarked for education at UCPH is from the taximeter system.

The university loses DKK 95,000 in revenue if you fail to complete one year of exams at the faculties of Science, and Health and Medical Sciences. If you are a student at the faculties of Humanities or Social Sciences, your university will only lose DKK 45,000. But these losses can be doubled-up, because the university will lose a bonus if a student does not finish their education on time.

Cash cow – or money pit

The taximeter system has been gradually implemented since the 1990’s and has been repeatedly criticized. Most recently, universities have been said to milk the system and aim for quantity of students instead of quality of the students’ education.

Critics argue that as the allocated funding depends on the number of passed exams, the universities have an interest in accepting more and more students while lowering professional levels to allow students to pass exams. This claim has of course been rejected by universities.

“The whole issue of letting people pass exams is a myth. It absolutely can’t be proved, so ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it?’” says Lykke Friis, the prorector for education at UCPH.

She points to several analyses, among them the McKinsey report from 2009, showing that a research-based education cannot finance itself by taximeter funding alone. The system cannot be the cash cow for universities to milk.

Mismatched funding in humanities

There is also a discrepancy between the needs and the funding of individual programmes. Humanities are no longer dependent only on blackboards and chalk, but have transitioned into research-based education with needs for multimedia equipment and computers.

“It seems to be random which educational programmes get which in terms of funding,” says Jens Erik Mogensen, associate dean of education at the Faculty of Humanities at UCPH.

“Language programmes ought to have a higher taximeter rate, as the students need both cultural and methodological courses while they are learning the language,” he argues.

There are ongoing discussions of a refurbishment of the system. Various political parties and educational institutions in Denmark have provided suggestions for alterations of the system based less on incentives and more on social background and possibilities for employment for graduates.

Below is a list of the taximeter funds per education programme. So take a look and see! What will the Danish government pay your university if you finish your study programme?

Humanities programmes:

(amounts in DKK, 2015)

African Area Studies: 44,900
Applied Cultural Analysis: 44,900
Archaeology: 44,900
Art history: 44,900
Audiologopedics: 64,700
Basic studies in humanities-technology: 64,700
Basic studies in the Humanities (RUC) 44,900
BSc in library science and knowledge communication: 44,900
Business Language and IT-based marketing: 44,900
Business language, business correspondent: 44,900
Business Language: 44,900
Cand.ling.merc.: 44,900
Chinese: 44,900
Classical archaeology: 44,900
Classical Philology: 44,900
Cognition and Communication: 44,900
Cognition: 44,900
Communication and IT: 64,700
Communication: 64,700
Computational Linguistics: 64,700
Cross-cultural studies: 44,900
Cultural Encounters: 44,900
Danish didactics: 44,900
Danish, nordic: 44,900
Design and culture economy: 64,700
Dramaturgy: 44,900
Dutch: 44,900
East Asian language / culture other than Chinese and Japanese: 44,900
Educational philosophy: 44,900
Educational sociology: 44,900
English: 44,900
Eskimology: 44,900
European ethnology: 44,900
Europe’s religious roots: 44,900
Experience Technology: 64,700
Female-technology culture, women’s studies: 44,900
Film and Media Studies: 64,700
Finnish: 44,900
Folkloristics: 44,900
French: 44,900
German: 44,900
History of Ideas: 44,900
History: 44,900
Humanistic Pedagogy (DPU): 44,900
Humanities miscellaneous (HUM3): 64,700
Hungarian: 44,900
Indology, Indian: 44,900
Informatics: 64,700
Information Psychology: 44,900
Intercultural market communication: 44,900
Intercultural pedagogy: 44,900
International Development Studies: 44,900
International studies: 44,900
Iranian: 44,900
IT and cognition: 64,700
IT and English: 64,700
Italian: 44,900
IT-didactic design: 64,700
Japanese: 44,900
Journalist: 64,700
Languages and International Relations: 44,900
linguistics: 44,900
Literature, Comparative Literature: 44,900
Maritime Archaeology: 64,700
Material Culture didactics: 44,900
Mathematical didactics: 44,900
Mathematics and Science Pedagogy (DPU): 44,900
Migration Studies: 44,900
Modern Greek: 44,900
MSc in learning and transformation processes: 44,900
MSc in Lifelong Learning: 44,900
MSc in Pedagogy: 44,900
MSc in Tourism: 44,900
Music Education didactics: 44,900
Music: 64,700
Musical Therapy: 64,700
Native language / culture: 44,900
Near Eastern antiquity culture: 44,900
Pedagogical anthropology (DPU): 44,900
Pedagogy (DPU): 44,900
Pedagogy, pedagogy in developing countries: 44,900
Pedagogy: 44,900
Philosophy: 44,900
Portuguese: 44,900
Psychological Pedagogy (DPU): 44,900
Psychology-Pedagogy (DPU): 44,900
Religion, History of Religions, Religious Studies, Sociology of Religion: 44,900
Rhetorics: 44,900
Romanian: 44,900
Semitic philology: 44,900
Slavic language / culture. Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, Balkanistic: 44,900
Spanish, Catalan, Provencal: 44,900
Theatre Studies: 44,900
Theology: 44,900
Vocational Pedagogy (DPU): 44,900

Science programmes

(amounts in DKK, 2015)

Agricultural Science Economics: 44,900
Agriculture, Food and Environment: 94,500
Agrobiology: 94,500
Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biology – Biotechnology: 94,500
Biochemistry: 94,500
Biology: 94,500
Biology-Biotechnology: 94,500
Cand. Scient. Tech.: 94,500
Chemistry: 94,500
Climate Change: 94,500
Computer Science: 94,500
Dairy Science: 94,500
Digital Media and Design: 94,500
Environmental Chemistry and Health: 94,500
Environmental Planning: 64,700
Environmental Studies: 94,500
Food Engineering: 94,500
Forest and Landscape: 94,500
Forestry Science: 94,500
Gastronomy and Health: 64,700
Geography: 64,700
Geology: 94,500
Horticultural Science: 94,500
Insurance Science: 64,700
Interdisciplinary Science Studies: 94,500
IT and data management: 94,500
IT Product Development: 94,500
Landscape Management: 94,500
Landscaping: 94,500
Lighting Design: 94,500
Mathematics: 64,700
Mathematics-Economics: 64,700
Medialogy: 94,500
Medical Biology: 94,500
Molecular Biology: 94,500
Molecular Medicine: 94,500
Molecular Nutrition and Food Technology: 94,500
MSc in Agricultural Development: 94,500
MSc in agriculture, nature and environment: 94,500
MSc in Architectural Engineering: 94,500
MSc in Biomedical Engineering: 94,500
MSc in clinical nutrition: 94,500
MSc in environmental and natural resource economics: 94,500
MSc in Parasitology: 94,500
Nanotechnology: 94,500
Natural Resources: 94,500
Operations Research: 64,700
Pharmaceutical Science: 94,500
Pharmacist: 94,500
Physics: 94,500
Process technology: 94,500
Product and design psychology: 94,500
Science and IT: 94,500
Sports Science: 64,700
Statistics: 64,700
Surveyor: 94,500
Technological and socio-economic plannng (RUC): 64,700
Veterinary Sciences: 94,500

Social Sciences and business education

(amounts in DKK, 2015)

American Studies: 44,900
Anthropology, Ethnography: 44,900
BA in Business Administration and Psychology: 44,900
BA in Business Economics & Business Communication : 44,900
BSc Negot in Chinese: 44,900
Business Economics: 44,900
Business Management: 44,900
Cand.merc.aud.: 44,900
Cand.merc.psyk.: 44,900
Cand.soc.(HKM): 44,900
Creative business processes: 44,900
Design Management: 44,900
Economics, Political Science: 44,900
Education Science: 44,900
Entrepreneurship and management: 44,900
European Studies: 44,900
Experience Economy: 44,900
Global development: 44,900
Global Studies: 44,900
HA International Business: 44,900
HA Service Management: 44,900
HA Sports Management: 44,900
HA/business administration, business law : 44,900
HA/Business Administration, Computer Science / Informatics: 64,700
HA/Cand. Merc: 44,900
HA/CM-philosophy: 44,900
HA/merc, mathematics: 44,900
HA/MERC. *** new programme ***: 44,900
HA/merc.int (SPRØK): 44,900
HHA/merc: 44,900
Hotel Management: 44,900
Human Security: 44,900
International security and international law: 44,900
Law: 44,900
MA in economics (HHK):44,900
MA in international law, economics and management: 44,900
MA in organizational innovation and entrepreneurship: 44,900
MA in Political Communication and Management: 44,900
MA in service management: 44,900
Management (RUC): 44,900
Organisational Learning: 44,900
Political Science, Social Studies: 44,900
Psychology: 44,900
Public Economics (RUC): 44,900
Registered Auditor (theoretical part): 44,900
Social sciences and IT: 64,700
Social work: 44,900
Social worker at AAU (new): 44,900
Social worker at AAU (old): 44,900
Sociology: 44,900
Spatial design and society: 64,700
The social master’s programme: 44,900
Working Life Studies: 44,900

Health programmes

(amounts in DKK, 2015)

Biomechanics (Chiropractor): 94,500
Dentist (odonthology): 94,500
Human biology: 94,500
International health: 64,700
IT and health: 94,500
MA in nursing care: 64,700
Medicine with Industrial Specialization: 94,500
Medicine: 94,500
MSC Health science: 64,700
MSc in clinical science and technology: 64,700
MSc in Midwifery Science: 64,700
MSc in Occupational Therapy: 64,700
Physiotherapist (new): 94,500
Public Health: 64,700

Technical programmes

(amounts in DKK, 2015)

Aquatic Science and Technology: 94,500
Bachelor of Engineering (old): 94,500
BEng – Bioprocessing Technology: 94,500
BEng, Arctic Technology: 94,500
BEng, Bachelor of Engineering: 94,500
Biosystems Engineering: 94,500
BSc in Biotechnology: 94,500
BSc in Infrastructure: 94,500
BSc in IT, communications and media technologies: 94,500
BSc in IT: 94,500
Business Development Engineer: 94,500
Civil engineer: 94,500
Combination module in planning, town and process: 64,700
Combination module Informatics: 94,500
Combination studies in medicine and technology: 94,500
Computer Engineering (Cand.polyt.): 94,500
Construction Design: 94,500
Digital Design and Communication: 64,700
Engineer, BEng DTU: 94,500
Engineer, MEng DTU: 94,500
eScience: 94,500
Export Engineering: 94,500
Fisheries technologist: 94,500
Food Science: 94,500
Food Studies: 94,500
Geotechnology: 94,500
Global Business Informatics: 94,500
Global Production Management: 94,500
Health Informatics: 94,500
Innovative communication technique and entrepreneurship: 94,500
IT (software): 94,500
IT and logistics: 64,700
Learning and Experience Technology: 94,500
Mechanical Engineering: 94,500
MSc in applied ICT: 94,500
MSc in cooling technology: 94,500
MSc in Food Technology: 94,500
MSc in IT (design, communication): 94,500
MSc in IT (electronic commerce): 94,500
MSc in IT (interdisciplinary informatics): 94,500
MSc in IT: 94,500
MSc in sports technology: 94,500
MSc in Systems Biology: 94,500
MSc in wind energy: 94,500
MSc Techn.: 94,500
Oil and Gas Technology: 94,500
Pharmatechnology: 94,500
Sound and acoustic technology: 94,500
Sustainable biotechnology: 94,500
Sustainable energy and energy technology: 94,500
System design: 94,500
TECH / SCIENCE, basic and combination training (AAU): 94,500
Technical science: 94,500
Technoanthropology: 64,700
Technology and economics: 44,900
Technology-based business development: 94,500
Value chains and Innovation Management (MSc):94,500
Welfare technology: 94,500

Source: Ministry of Higher Education and Science

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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