Updated: August 19, 2026 | Reading time: 5 min | Written by: StudyTribune Team
“Danish Government Scholarship” isn’t one centralized programme with a single deadline — it’s a funding scheme granted individually by Denmark’s own universities, each running their own version with different coverage, criteria, and deadlines. This guide explains how the system actually works, which universities offer it, and how to apply through the right channel for your specific target institution.
How Danish Government Scholarships Actually Work
Denmark, like several other Nordic and European countries, charges tuition fees to students from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland. To keep attracting strong international applicants despite these fees, the Danish government funds a scholarship scheme that individual universities then administer themselves — meaning Copenhagen, Aarhus, and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) each run their own application process, their own deadline, and their own specific coverage terms, rather than one shared national portal.
Eligibility
- Citizenship outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland — EU/EEA/Swiss citizens already study tuition-free in Denmark and aren’t the target of this scheme
- Admission (or an active application) to an eligible full-degree programme at a participating Danish university
- Strong academic record — the scholarship is merit-based and competitive at every participating institution
- Specific programme eligibility varies by university and faculty, so confirm your exact programme qualifies before applying
What It Typically Covers
- A full or partial tuition fee waiver, depending on the specific university and programme
- In some cases, a monthly living allowance or grant alongside the tuition waiver
- Coverage level is explicitly described as “varies” across nearly every source and institution — there’s no single fixed benefit amount to quote here without it being wrong for most applicants
Which Universities Offer It
University of Copenhagen — runs its own Danish Government Scholarship allocation by faculty; the Faculty of Humanities, for example, has its own dedicated scholarship track with its own deadline.
Aarhus University — one of Denmark’s leading research universities, offering full or partial tuition waivers plus living cost support for exceptional non-European applicants to Master’s programmes.
University of Southern Denmark (SDU) — notably offers the scholarship at both undergraduate and Master’s level, not just Master’s, with separate deadlines for each: a Master’s deadline in early February and an undergraduate deadline in mid-March for the following academic year’s intake.
Other Danish institutions run comparable schemes — always check your specific target university’s international admissions page directly, since coverage and deadlines are set independently by each one.
Key Dates
Because each university sets its own deadline, there’s no single date to give you here that would be accurate for all of them. As a general pattern across recent cycles: Master’s-level scholarship deadlines commonly fall between January and March for the following academic year, with Bachelor’s deadlines sometimes falling slightly later, around mid-March. Some faculty-specific tracks (such as certain University of Copenhagen scholarships) have shown deadlines as late as August for a given cycle. Confirm the exact current deadline directly on your target university’s international admissions page — treating any single date here as universal would be wrong for most readers.
How to Apply Danish Government Scholarships: Step by Step
- Choose your target university and confirm it participates in the Danish Government Scholarship scheme for your specific programme and study level.
- Apply for admission to your chosen programme first — in most cases, the scholarship application is tied to or submitted alongside your admission application, not as a fully separate process.
- Check whether a separate scholarship form or motivation statement is required, since this varies by university — some evaluate scholarship eligibility automatically, others require an additional submission.
- Submit before your specific university’s deadline. Given how much these vary, don’t assume the deadline you’ve seen for one Danish university applies to another.
- Await your combined admission and scholarship decision, which typically follows your university’s standard graduate or undergraduate admissions timeline.
Other Funded Routes Into Denmark Worth Knowing
If a general Danish Government Scholarships doesn’t fit your specific situation, Denmark also has narrower, discipline-specific funded PhD routes worth checking — including DTU Compute’s PhD scholarships in applied mathematics and computing, and various university-specific Industrial PhD schemes. These run entirely separate application processes from the general Danish Government Scholarship and are worth exploring directly if you’re specifically pursuing doctoral research.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming one central deadline applies to every Danish university. It doesn’t — each institution sets its own.
- Applying for the scholarship without also applying for admission. In most cases these are linked, not separate tracks you can pursue independently.
- Assuming EU/EEA citizens are eligible. This scheme specifically targets non-EU/EEA/Swiss applicants, since EU/EEA/Swiss citizens already study tuition-free.
- Assuming full funding is guaranteed. Coverage genuinely varies between full and partial by university and programme — confirm the specific terms before counting on full funding.
FAQs
Is there one central Danish Government Scholarship application?
No. Each Danish university administers its own version of the scholarship, with its own deadline and specific coverage terms.
Which Danish universities offer government scholarships?
University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, and the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) all run their own schemes; other Danish institutions offer comparable funding as well.
Am I eligible if I’m an EU citizen?
No. This scheme is specifically for students outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland, since EU/EEA/Swiss citizens already study in Denmark tuition-free.
Does it cover Bachelor’s degrees or only Master’s?
It depends on the university. Most Danish Government Scholarships are Master’s-focused, but some institutions, including SDU, also offer them at Bachelor’s level.
Is the Danish Government Scholarship fully funded?
Coverage varies — some university tracks offer a full tuition waiver plus a living allowance, others offer partial tuition coverage only. Confirm the specific terms for your target university and programme.
Do I need to submit a separate scholarship application, or is it automatic?
This varies by university — some evaluate scholarship eligibility automatically as part of your admission review, others require a separate form or motivation statement. Check your target university’s specific process.
When is the application deadline?
There’s no single deadline across all of Denmark — Master’s deadlines commonly fall between January and March, undergraduate deadlines sometimes slightly later, and some faculty-specific tracks have shown deadlines as late as August. Confirm the exact date on your target university’s page.
Can I apply to more than one Danish university’s scholarship?
Yes — since each university runs its own independent scheme, applying to several genuinely improves your overall chances, provided you meet each one’s specific eligibility and deadline.
Related Reading
Strengthen your application with our guides to writing a recommendation letter for a scholarship and a personal statement for scholarship applications. If you’re weighing Denmark against other European destinations, our roundup of scholarships in Europe covers a broader set of countries and funding types.
Danish Government Scholarships remain a genuinely strong funding route for non-EU/EEA students — the key is treating it as a set of separate university-run schemes rather than one national programme, and confirming your specific target institution’s current deadline and coverage directly before building an application timeline around it.