Number of applicants increases

Dear staff

A few important application deadlines have passed – namely 1 March for applications to our Master's programmes and 15 March for quota 2 applications to our Bachelor's programmes.

Things are looking really good, and compared to last year, we have experienced an increase of 35 percent in applications to our Master's programmes and 31 percent in quota 2 applictions o our Bachelor's programmes .

Our faculty is the one that has had the highest increase at SDU. With respect to the Master's programmes, this is largely due to Data Science at both SDU Odense and SDU Kolding. The latter attracts many international applicants in particular.

It is incredibly impressive to follow the campaigns for Data Science on SoMe, where page views exceed all other programmes at SDU – often with 10-20 times more hits.

It is also very impressive that our new Master's programme in Quantum Computing has attracted 66 applicants. It is time-consuming to start marketing for a completely new programme and challenging when you do not already have enrolled students who can represent the programme. Therefore, it is an extremely good result with so many applicants.

The proportion of international self-funded applicants now exceeds that of  Danish and European applicants for the Master's programmes. Therefore, there is a lot of work involved in checking the applicants' qualifications and identifying the students who can be offered a place.

With the substantial increase in the number of applicants, we need to find more efficient ways to evaluate them and offer study places. It is crucial that international students, in particular, receive a prompt response so they can begin their relocation to Denmark, with all that it entails.

As mentioned, we have received 31 percent more quota 2 applications for the Bachelor's programmes and 18 % more first-priority applications compared to 2024. Historical experience shows that a larger number of quota 2 applications results in a larger number of applications in quota 1, which has an application deadline of 5 July.

In the Bachelor's programmes, it is primarily the large programmes such as Pharmacy and Biomedicine that have attracted more applicants this year, but several of the smaller programs are also experiencing an increase in number of applicants.

Generally, the application for science programmes has improved in Denmark, and it is great to see that students have become interested in STEM subjects. When SDU Odense held our Open House, interest in the science programmes was also high and the number of visits far exceeded last year.

I would like to thank the many who participated in the Open House - your commitment to the many offers is crucial to making it a good experience for visitors.

In addition to following the application for our programmes, it is also necessary to keep a close eye on developments in the USA. In connection with the open job postings at our faculty, we are experiencing increasing interest from researchers from the USA to apply to Denmark.

Many have already been laid off and more expect this to happen in the near future - and this applies especially within the green transition, climate and health.

It is deeply tragic that many years of research are at risk of being lost. Even more important is to safeguard the democratic values and academic freedom that are essential for research at our universities.