Campus

When you walk into the Ceremonial Hall at the University of Copenhagen there is a lie on the wall. And even though the university has known the truth since the year 1900, it has not – before the interview for this article – corrected the story on its website in 2019.

It took some time for Professor Guus Kroonen to get used to the fact that he, as a teacher at the University of Copenhagen, could have a beer with his students on campus. This would be a no go in the Netherlands.

There are two big wooden boxes at South Campus. Each of them has approximately 50,000 bees living inside. Once a week an associate professor of theology collects their honey.

One year ago, Emil Bülow Petersen dropped out of his study programme. He was badly affected by the loss of his brother. Now, after a new start at university, he has set up a grief support group for students who have also lost loved ones.

Zachary Gerhart-Hines had just started his research career in the US when he fell in love with a Danish woman. Today, he does research on diabetes and obesity at the University of Copenhagen and is enthusiastic about how innovative Denmark is.

Yanqi Li got off a Chinese bullet train and, after many a detour, ended up as assistant professor on Frederiksberg Campus. The best thing about Denmark is that you can be a scientist and parent at the same time, she says.

Compared to Germany, associate professor and archaeologist Tobias Richter finds more freedom and more flexibility at Danish universities. But he says the university could take better care of its students.