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Education in Denmark is compulsory (Danish:undervisningspligt) for children below the age of 15 or 16, even though it is not compulsory to attendFolkeskole ("public school"). The school years up to the age of fifteen/sixteen are known asFolkeskole, since any education has to match the level offered there. About 82% of young people take further education in addition to this.[1] Government-funded education is usually free of charge and open to all. Denmark has a tradition ofprivate schools and about 15.6% of all children at basic school level attend private schools, which are supported by avoucher system.[2][3]
TheEducation Index, published with theUN'sHuman Development Index in 2008, based on data from 2013, lists Denmark as 0.873, amongst the highest in the world, beneath Australia, Finland and New Zealand.[4]
Literacy in Denmark is approximately 99% for both men and women.[5]
The Danish education system has its origin in the cathedral and monastery schools established by theRoman Catholic Church in the earlyMiddle Ages, and seven of the schools established in the 12th and 13th centuries still exist today. After theReformation, which was officially implemented in 1536, the schools were taken over by theCrown. Their main purpose was to prepare the students fortheological studies by teaching them to read, write and speakLatin andGreek.[6]
Popular elementary education was at that time still very primitive, but in 1721, 240rytterskoler ("cavalry schools") were established throughout the kingdom. Moreover, the religious movement ofPietism, spreading in the 18th century, required some level ofliteracy, thereby promoting the need for public education. Thephilanthropic thoughts of such people asRousseau also helped spur developments in education open to all children.
In 1809, the old Clergyman's School was transformed in accordance with the spirit of the time into ahumanistic Civil Servant's School which was to "foster true humanity" through immersion in the ancientGreek andLatin cultures combined with some teaching of natural science and modern languages.
Throughout the 19th century (and even up until today), the Danish education system was especially influenced by the ideas of clergyman, politician and poetN. F. S. Grundtvig, who advocated inspiring methods of teaching and the foundation offolk high schools.
In 1871, the scientific and technical development of the 19th century led to a division of thesecondary education into two lines: thelanguages and the mathematics-science line. This division was the backbone of the structure of theGymnasium (i.e. academic general upper secondary education programme) until the year 2005.
In 1894, theFolkeskole ("public school", the government-fundedprimary education system) was formally established (until then, it had been known asAlmueskolen ("common school")), and measures were taken to improve the education system to meet the requirements ofindustrial society.
In 1903, the 3-year course of the Gymnasium was directly connected the municipal school through the establishment of themellemskole ('middle school', grades 6–9), which was later on replaced by therealskole. Previously, students wanting to go to the Gymnasium (and thereby obtain qualification for admission to university) had to take private tuition or similar means as the municipal schools were insufficient.
In 1975, therealskole was abandoned and theFolkeskole (primary education) transformed into an egalitarian system where pupils go to the same schools regardless of their academic merits.
Thefolkeskole (English:people's school) covers the entire period of compulsory education, from the age of 5 - 6 to 15 - 16, encompassingpre-school,primary and lowersecondary education.[7]
Secondary education usually takes two to four years and is attended by students between the ages of 15 - 16 and 18 - 19. Secondary education is not compulsory, but usually free of charge, and students have a wide range of programmes to choose from. Some education programmes are academically oriented, the most common being theGymnasium. Others are more practically oriented, training students for jobs as e.g.artisans orclerks through a combination of instruction invocational schools andapprenticeship. In Denmark students have three attempts to finish their secondary education; from there on they are left on their own. If they wish to continue from here on, they are allowed to get an education but no longer with any economic support from the government.
Higher education in Denmark can take place at a number of different institutions that offer educations of different types. Only universities offer education at themaster level, while university colleges offer certain bachelor degrees, but may collaborate with a university to offer a master level degree (such as the MA inJournalism atAarhus University being a collaboration with theDanish School of Media and Journalism.[8] Bachelor degree are either academic bachelor degrees at universities or professional bachelor degrees at university colleges (Danish:professionsbacheloruddannelse), but universities may also offer professional bachelor degrees, and for instance, you can take the education to become a social worker atAalborg University.[9]
Business academies (Danish:Erhvervsakademi) offer two-year academy profession programmes; some business academies also offer professional bachelor programmes, further adult education and diploma programmes.[10]
The maritime education institutions offer study programmes for the Danish merchant fleet and the fishing industry.[11]
Danishuniversity colleges (Danish:professionshøjskoler) offer profession specific tertiary education, also known as medium higher education (MVU) and diploma courses, but do not offer university education at postgraduate level.
The institutions in architecture and art offer various degree programmes within the fine arts and applied arts.[12]
The first university in Denmark,University of Copenhagen, was established in 1479.[citation needed] The second,University of Kiel inSchleswig-Holstein, was established in 1665. When Schleswig-Holstein was conquered byGerman forces in 1864, the University of Copenhagen was once again the only university in the Kingdom of Denmark and remained so until 1928 when theAarhus University was founded. Since then, more universities have been established, and Denmark now has eight universities.
Higher education in Denmark is free for students from theEuropean Union andSwitzerland.[13] Many programmes are taught in English, including Bachelor's, Master's, PhD, exchange, and summer school programmes.[14]
Almost all educational institutes in Denmark are free. Thistuition-fee-less system applies to all students who:
Not only are students charged no tuition fees, but all Danish citizens over 18 (and many others meeting certain criteria) are offered monthlyfinancial aid, known as "SU" (Statens Uddannelsesstøtte, meaningState Educational Support), amounting for each student to aboutDKK 950 monthly if the student lives with their parents or guardians, and they have high incomes, and aboutDKK 5,486 monthly if the student lives away from their parents or guardians.[15] Students can supplement the SU with low-interest government loans amounting toDKK 2,807 per month, which must be paid back upon the completion of their education.[16]
Wright and Ørberg (2008) came to a critical conclusion on the Danish system of higher education: "The Danish model combines the worst of both the free trade and the modernising state models of autonomy: universities, their leaders and academics are given freedom in the sense of individual responsibility for their own economic survival, whilst the sector comes under heavy political control. This is called "setting universities free"."[17] In a 2017 comparative study on academic freedom in the universities of 28 European Union members, Denmark ranks only 24th.[18] In all categories (academic freedom in legislation; institutional autonomy in legislation; self-governance in legislation; job security; constitution and international agreements), Denmark ranked below the EU average. The authors of the study argue that the restrictions on academic freedom in Denmark would, in most other EU states, be considered draconian.
