Danish Government Scholarships 2027/28 Guide

What are Danish Government Scholarships?

Under a Danish state scheme, higher education institutions can award scholarships to highly qualified non-EU/EEA students. These aren't handed out broadly — each participating university receives a limited annual allocation, and competition is serious. The scholarship exists because Denmark wants to attract outstanding international talent, and it charges non-EU/EEA students substantial tuition fees (roughly DKK 55,000–130,000 a year, depending on university and programme) to fund its higher education system.

The scholarship can be a full tuition waiver, a partial tuition waiver, a monthly living grant, or a combination. What you actually get depends entirely on which university and faculty admits you. A scholarship at Aalborg University comes with DKK 11,225 a month (2026 rate) plus tuition; at CBS it is DKK 8,000 a month plus tuition. A scholarship at DTU is tuition only, with no stipend at all. SDU's official scholarship page now describes a full tuition fee waiver for selected engineering and computing programmes (SDU's bachelor's page says the waiver does not cover living costs). Don't assume any uniform package — read the specific university's offer carefully.

There is no central portal. The Danish Government Scholarship is not one programme with a single application.

Each university manages its own allocation, sets its own criteria, has its own deadline and makes its own decisions. Your job is to get admitted to a university that offers the scholarship — and to make your application strong enough that the scholarship committee takes notice. Some universities consider all applicants automatically; others require a separate statement or form.

• Citizens of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland who are enrolled in or applying for full-degree programmes at participating Danish universities.
• Applicants to full Master's or Bachelor's degree programmes (not exchange or short programmes).
• EU/EEA citizens (including Norwegians, Icelanders and Liechtensteiners) — and Swiss citizens, whom the official Study in Denmark rules also exclude.
• Students who qualify for SU (Danish State Educational Support) — regardless of citizenship.
• Students at artistic higher education institutions (music academies and similar).

Scholarship aggregator sites frequently label this programme “fully funded.” That is often misleading and depends heavily on which university awards you the scholarship. There is no single standard package.

Seven institutions are best known for participating (Roskilde University also takes part). Each manages its own scholarship process, award count and deadline.

See the full side-by-side university comparison.

The reality of the competition

The numbers are unambiguous. UCPH Faculty of Science scholarship recipients in 2025 had undergraduate GPAs at or above 98% — near-perfect academic records from their home institutions. At Aarhus, 1–2 scholarships exist per Master's programme, drawn from dozens of admitted non-EU applicants who all met the admission standard. CBS awards roughly 25 scholarships across all its graduate programmes combined — in a school that admits several hundred international students each year.

This is genuinely very competitive. But the important practical detail is this: at most universities, the scholarship application is bundled with your regular university application. You're not writing an entirely different set of materials or going through a separate portal. You apply to the university and automatically receive consideration. The marginal cost of “applying for the scholarship” is often just a stronger personal statement or a more focused motivation letter. (Admission itself can carry a fee — CBS, for example, requires non-EU applicants to pay an application fee.)

The primary differentiator is academic record — consistently, across every participating university. Beyond that, the weight of other factors varies by institution.

1. 1
   Academic record

   The primary signal everywhere. A top GPA from a well-regarded institution is the baseline — scholarship recipients consistently sit at the very top of their admitted cohort.

2. 2
   Personal statement quality

   Differentiates candidates at CBS and DTU especially. A generic motivation letter won't cut it. Show intellectual clarity about why this programme, why Denmark, and what you'll bring to it.

3. 3
   Research experience

   Matters significantly at DTU, less so at CBS. For a research-intensive Master's, documented lab work, publications or thesis research strengthens your case considerably.

4. 4
   English proficiency

   Meet or exceed the minimums: IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL iBT 83. Competitive scholarship candidates typically score well above — IELTS 7.5 or TOEFL 100+ is more realistic.

5. 5
   Fit with the programme

   A clear, credible connection between your background, your chosen programme and your goals. Committees notice when an applicant's history and plans form a logical arc — and when they don't.

Next: the university-by-university application guide and the required documents list.

Navigate the guide

Everything you need to apply, in one place.