Here you will find relevant information of what to expect, when moving to Denmark. Furthermore, you can read about other students' and their experiences and how ambassadors and "buddies" guide you in the beginning
Ready for common meals, city walks and language cafes?
Danish Candidates step forward to make their foreign co-students feel welcome. This is the impact you get after a quick telephonic interrogation at schools across Denmark. It is also clear that many foreign students engage in this vital work themselves.
In Copenhagen – Barely ten steps from the glorious Round Tower – the sun is shimmering on the cafe tables outside the Students House. Every day, tremendous amounts of low-priced coffee is served for hundreds of students, either talking in groups or fascinated in specific studies. International coordinator Stine Agerbæk barely knows where to begin when we ask her what the Student House has to offer foreign candidates:
”We arrange city walks with accompanied tours around the city. We run a language cafe where we speak Danish, English, Spanish, Chinese and other languages. Wednesdays we present our civic restaurant where you can have a meal for only DKK 25 kroner and we usually have demonstrations from unions, social employees, sophisticated international students and others who can help with functional stuff related to accommodation, employment and social life.”
Forty nationalities working together
At the Student House, there is a real good chance of running into somebody who speaks your language or knowss your home country. About 40 different nationalities work together to create a great student life for everyone here.
”We do everything from celebrating Danish Christmas, Irish Saint Patrick's Day or other high festivals to booking a band to play West-African music. All our activities and celebrations depend on volunteers contributing with concept and man-hours. This kind of elementary work is quite frequent in Denmark. Our student sign up from all over the world are a major support for us. They help us to create international surroundings with a fun and progressive vibe,” says Stine Agerbæk.
Awesome International Domicile
Student life is also a real melting pot other places in Denmark, for example at Roskilde University where foreign candidates volunteer actively in political student representation and social life at the school. This is what we learn from Kristian Bruun, who is chairman of the student council, which oversight its meeting in English because one of the board members is from Argentina.
”Every time the national parliament or the university nominates a new reform, we say to them: Do not forget the foreign students! At Roskilde University, we have this impressive international house, which serves as a place to meet up for organizational or social objectives. We have had a great deal of success with our cooking sessions where we prepare Danish food together,” says Kristian Bruun who studies global relations with co-students from all over the world.
Friends in Denmark
In another part of the country, the university college VIA UC trains engineers, designers, teachers, medical nurses, etc. The main office is located in Aarhus with more than 40 study programmes spread out across the entire central Jutland area.
”We strive to coordinate with our approximately 3,500 international students in the study environment and make sure they gain Danish friends. It is a great advantage to have students from abroad, because they strengthen our international environment and give us a lot of new opinions,” explains Palle Würtz, who studies social work and is chairman of the student council at VIA UC.
A vacation from the rest of the world
Yasmin Davali is chair of The Joint Council of Danish Student Organizations, which covers the whole country.
Yasmin Davali is chair of The Joint Council of Danish Student Organizations, which covers the whole country.
”Danish academic institutions compute foreign students more than ever. It is really positive when Danish students make an attempt to give their fellow students from abroad a pleasant welcome. Today, education, exploration and improvement take place across national borders, so if we can have the rest of the world drop by for a vacation here, that is just tremendous,” “says Yasmin Davali”