Full-degree students from European Union member countries can obtain the Danish student’s grant (SU) if they qualify as migrant workers (i.e. work at least 10-12 hours a week). In 2013, there was a (DFP inspired) political agreement to set a ceiling for SU expenditure on EU students. In 2018, this ceiling was reached and, at very short notice, the Ministry of Research and Higher Education required that six of the eight Danish universities cut the number of ‘English-speaking students’ on master’s courses. The Ministry gave each university a specific number to cut and let each university decide how to reach it. Some universities introduced a high level Danish-language qualification as a requirement for admission on international courses; some implemented a relatively small ‘combine harvester’ cut in international students across all their courses; others used the opportunity to make major cuts to education and research groups. In February 2019, Centre for Higher Education Futures (CHEF) held a seminar with participation from the Ministry, the head of school, academics from Denmark and elsewhere, and students from an affected course. The video with the presentations by Susan Wright and Hanne Adriansen is available at the CHEF website.
In March and December 2020, the activities continued. The HEPP (Higher Education Policy and Practice) section of DUN (Dansk Universitetspædagogisk Netværk) has held two seminars to consider this issue. The events brought together representatives of Danish Rectors’ Conference (DU), Danish Chamber of Commerce (DE), Confederation of Danish Industries (DI), Danish National Union of Students (DSF), Dansk Magisterforening (DM), Copenhagen Capacity with Danish academics and students. They all quickly agreed that the current discourse is harmful not only for the universities and students but also for Danish companies and it needs re-framing.
Detailed analysis of the situation and ways to re-frame the debate have been published in these articles:
