The University of Copenhagen seals major bilateral agreement with Australian University

Ten years ago, the University of Copenhagen began to send two exchange students annually to the University of Sydney in Australia. In the subsequent years, the number of students gradually increased.

On Monday 27 June, the two university partners signed a “super bilateral exchange agreement” – as it has been called – to exchange up to 50 students between the universities. The agreement will last for five years and can be renewed.

It is the first super bilateral exchange agreement entered into by the University of Sydney with another university, while it is the University of Copenhagen’s second (the first was with the University of Toronto in Canada, which allows for ‘just’ 20 students each year).

Talented professors and modern facilities

Law student Jeppe Nylander Jensen from the University of Copenhagen was an exchange student at the University of Sydney during his final semester. The exchange cost him DKK 100,000 for housing, textbooks and spending money. That was despite the fact that the exchange agreement paid for his education fees, however Nylander Jensen says the money was well spent nevertheless.

“The University of Sydney is first and foremost very high level. They have talented professors, modern facilities and many of their buildings are completely new. Sydney is also a fantastic city. The beach is close by, the weather is good, and it has a vibrant life that is kind of different to Copenhagen,” says Nylander Jensen.

Consultancy firm Mercer agrees. The firm’s ‘Mercer Quality of Living Rankings’ nominated Sydney as one of the world’s ten best cities to live in, while academically, it also had a lot to offer Nylander Jensen.

“I became better at English and I got a better perspective on my own studies at the University of Copenhagen, because they have a completely different legal system there,” he says.

Some law courses are geared for different nationalities, says Nylander Jensen. The Australian-based subjects helped him to get more perspective on his studies in Denmark, while other subjects he was able to transfer directly to the University of Copenhagen from the University of Sydney.

Potential exchanges in Ph.D. fields

Monday 27 June, the University of Sydney’s Deputy Vice Chancellor flew to Denmark with the one goal of signing the agreement with the University of Copenhagen’s Prorector Lykke Friis.

According to Trine Sand, the Director of University Education Services, International Education & Grants at the University of Copenhagen, Carlin expressed enthusiasm for taking collaboration with the Danish university one step further.

Both Friis and Carlin hope that the collaboration – besides creating more exchange places at the bachelor and masters level – will one day extend to Ph.D. and possibly create more research contracts between the two universities.

During the Autumn of 2016, the University of Copenhagen will hold a series of meetings with the University of Sydney in line with the agreement. For example, a cross-faculty delegation from the University of Copenhagen will visit Sydney in November.

anfj@adm.ku.dk

Sign up for the University Post weekly newsletter here.