University of Copenhagen to cut student admissions by 450 places starting next year

Student places will be lost to the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) already from 2025, and it has now become clear how many places each of the six faculties will lose.

UCPH management released the numbers Friday 30 August.

Hardest hit will be the Faculty of Humanities, which will have to cut 172 places compared to the 2023 intake. This is a 11.6 percent decrease.

A total of 450 student places will be eliminated relative to 2023. This is a seven per cent reduction.

The reduction is a result of the downsizing of the universities sector that was announced in April by the Danish government and the parties behind the master’s reform (the Denmark Democrats, Socialist People’s Party, Liberal Alliance and Conservative Party).

The Ministry for Higher Education and Science had previously announced that the University of Copenhagen will have to cut its bachelor intake by 789 student places, corresponding to a 11.7 per cent reduction. The difference is due to the fact that the Ministry calculates the reduction based on the average student intake in 2018-2022, while the UCPH release bases its numbers on the 2023 intake.

READ ALSO: University of Copenhagen to slash admissions numbers by 789 places annually

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Prorector for Education Kristian C. Lauta says to the University Post that management has reached a good solution to what he describes as a »horrid problem«.

According to Lauta, the distribution of the reductions has been based on criteria such as the number of applications, drop-out rates, and that some faculties can also benefit from fewer students, because this can increase the focus on the students that are admitted.

In addition, the prorector says that management, in the distribution, has also looked at graduate unemployment. This has not been the only guiding principle however.

On the face of it, I don’t think it will have major economic consequences for UCPH

Prorector for Education, Kristian Cedervall Lauta

»The University of Copenhagen has already significantly reduced its intake over the past five years, based on graduate unemployment. We have of course also taken unemployment figures into account because they are an indicator of where it is that society currently is in need of the skills,« says Kristian C. Lauta.

It is now up to the individual faculties to decide how to distribute the reduction in student intake between the different degree programmes, and this has to be decided before the end of November. It is up to the faculties themselves to decide whether the coming cuts will have an impact on the overall study programme offering or not.

Humanities under attack

Eva Silberschmidt Viala is associate dean at the Faculty of Humanities. She has been involved in the discussions over the distribution of reductions. And she says they have been thorough and systematic.

»The reason why we have to reduce the most at the Faculty of Humanities is that we have several study programmes with high unemployment. But you can see from the numbers that there are programmes that do not have any unemployment that also have to reduce places. And this is because we at UCPH as a whole are committed to ensuring that we have a wide range of subjects. I do not disagree that graduate unemployment is an important criterion. And I also know therefore that this means that we have to reduce the most places at the Faculty of Humanities. So in that sense, it’s not a surprise,« says Eva Silberschmidt Viala.

According to the associate dean, it has been a balancing act between ensuring the lowest possible graduate unemployment and, at the same time, being able to offer a broad portfolio of study programmes.

At this stage, she cannot say what the reduction in student intake will mean for the individual degree programmes at the Faculty of Humanities. But she stresses that the Faculty’s objective is to continue to have a broad humanities educational offering after the downsizing has taken place.

Has no impact on universtity’s finances

With a lower student intake, the University of Copenhagen will, all things being equal, lose funding in the form of the Danish government’s taximeter funding subsidies. This is the money that is paid to universities based on the number of exams passed.

But according to Kristian C. Lauta, the reduction in student intake will not have any immediate financial consequences for UCPH.

Graduate unemployment is an important criterion. And I also know therefore that this means that we have to reduce the most places at the Faculty of Humanities

Eva Silberschmidt Viala, Associate Dean at the Faculty of Humanities

»The assumption is that the overall master’s reform, which this sector resizing is a part of, is financially neutral for the universities. We expect that there will be a reform of student full-time equivalents, and that a little more money will follow on from the new master’s work which is soon to begin as part of the reform. On the face of it, I don’t think it will have major economic consequences for UCPH,« says Kristian C. Lauta.

According to the prorector, there is therefore also no prospect of layoffs among teaching staff as a result of the initiative.

The continued balance to UCPH finances is also due to the hope that fewer students will drop out in the future as a result of the drop to admissions. According to Kristian C. Lauta, the positive consequence of fewer students will be that the individual degree programmes will be stronger for fewer students and can create more stimulating study environments. This can potentially reduce dropout rates.