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How to apply

You can sign up to receive 2024 information here

Dates for Summer University 2024 are:

Term 1: 2 July - 19 July

Term 2: 22 July - 9 August

Applications are open from January 15 at 12 noon - March 15 at 12 noon 2024 

Step 1: Determine your applicant type

  • If you are a student at one of AU's international partner universities and nominated for exchange by your home university you will have to apply as an exchange student. This applies to students at all levels, including PhD's. 
  • If you are a student from another Danish University and your course is pre-approved by your home university you have to apply as a student from other Danish University.
  • If you cannot get a nomination from your home university, your university is not one of our partner universities or if you are not currently enrolled in a university, you have to apply as a freemover. This also applies to Danish citizens.
  • Are you currently studying at Aarhus University? Then look here for information. 

As an exchange student you do not have to pay a course fee, but as a freemover you will have to pay for the course. But don’t worry, you will realize that it’s quite cheap.

You are probably eager to find out if your university is a partner university or not? The best way to find out is to contact your local international office. Please refer them to this page when you do.

If you have settled what kind of applicant you are, you are ready for the next step. The second step is to make yourself familiar with the required documents you need to upload to your application.

Step 2: The paperwork

List of required documents for exchange students 

Please note that before you can apply as an exchange student your coordinator must have nominated you online first. You may refer your local international coordinator to this page.

-A copy of your passport or other valid EU ID.

-A transcript of your completed courses so far and a copy of your bachelor degree if you apply for master courses.

List of required documents for students from other Danish universities

-A transcript of your completed courses so far and a copy of your bachelor degree if you apply for master courses.

-A pre-approval from your home institution stating that the course you are applying for is approved and will be inserted into your study programme at your home institution. 

List of required documents for freemovers

-A copy of your passport or other valid EU ID.

-A transcript of your completed courses so far if currently studying and a copy of your degree if already graduated.

-Documentation for your English language skills.

English language requirements and how to prove them as a freemover

As a freemover you must submit a valid English language test to your application unless:

  • You are a native speaker with an English taught qualifying exam (including applicants with a qualifying examination from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Scotland, or Ireland). Please note that applicants with a qualifying examination from all other countries (including African and Asian countries, where the exam has been taught in English) must submit a test.
  • You have an English taught Bachelor’s or a Master's Degree from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Scotland, or Ireland.
  • You hold a Nordic/Duborg/IB or ScholaEuropaea European Baccalaureate entrance examination with an English level the Danish Agency for higher Education considers comparable to a B level.
  • You are studying at a partner university which has approved your course to be inserted into your study programme.
  • You are a PhD student

If none of the above is the case you must submit a valid English test before we can accept your application. We do not accept IELTS and TOEFL tests that are more than 2 years old at the time of the application deadline. Cambridge tests do not have an expiration date.
If you do not currently hold a valid English test it is possible to submit the test results later on also after the application deadline. The deadline for submitting your language test results is May 15th. The list of accepted language test is as follows:

TOEFL
Test result of at least 83.
The Aarhus University TOEFL code is 8935.

IELTS:

English B – IELTS Academic test result of at least 6.5 points.

Cambridge ESOL examinations
English B – Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) (only grades A, B or C) or First Certificate with grade A or 180 points as a minimum on the Cambridge English Scale.

CEFR validated English language course at C1 level

Step 3: Select your courses

Once you have settled what applicant type you are and have sorted the paper work you need to decide which courses you wish to apply for.

You will find our courses in our course list

The first thing you can do to make sure you are qualified for admission for a specific course is to familiarize yourself with the prerequisites. You can see the specific prerequisites for each course on their course page.

You can choose up to 3 priorities in each term. 

You need the correct course name to be able to select the courses in our application system. Please note the course name(s) and term(s) before you start your application.

Step 4: Apply online!

It is not possible to sign up for 2024 courses yet. 

Our applications for 2024 are open from January 15 at 12 noon - March 15 at 12 noon 2024.

Once the applications are open, more information will be available here. 

You can sign up to receive 2024 information here.

Application FAQ

What if I need a visa to enter Denmark?

Some students who come to Denmark to participate in the summer programme will have to apply for a short term visa for the period of the duration of the programme. Since you are going to study in Denmark for less than three months, you will not get a student visa.

You can check the nyidanmark.dk to see whether or not you need to apply for a short term visa for entering Denmark. Students from many countries, including the U.S., do not need to apply for a short term visa if their stay in Denmark is under three months.

If you are a citizen in a non-EU or non-Schengen country, you may need a visa to enter Denmark.

Therefore, you need to apply for a short term visa if you get accepted to AU Summer University. 

If you get accepted to AU Summer University and you need a visa, you will recieve an e-mail from us with information on how to apply for your visa. This e-mail will contain a visa invitation from us which you need to fill out with your personal information and return to us, so we can sign it. 

Once we have signed your filled-out invitation and returned it to you, you can apply for your visa.

Please note that the time for The Danish Immigration Service to process your visa application can be up to 45 days. We therefore recommend you to apply for AU Summer University in our first round of applications, so we have time to look through your application, send the visa invitation to you, and so that The Danish Immigration Service have time to process your application before your arrival in Denmark. 

Please note that we cannot help you get your visa faster, if you do not apply for your visa in time for The Danish Immigration Service to process your visa application. If you do not get your visa by the time you need to enter Denmark, there is nothing we can do to help you. 

Please note that in some countries it can be very difficult to get a time for an appointment at the visa administration office. If you are considering applying for AU Summer University and you need a visa to enter Denmark, you might want to contact the visa administration before applying and ask them, if they think you will be able to get your visa in time. Some visa administration offices have month-long waiting lists to get an appointment. 

How are the seats allocated and what are the chances to get accepted?

Unless otherwise announced in the course description found in the course catalogue, seats in any given course will be distributed to the following groups in descending order:

  • Aarhus University students from primary or related programme offering the course
  • Aarhus University students from any other study program
  • Exchange students and students from other Danish universities
  • Freemovers

Within these groups the seats will distributed as described in the course description. 

It is really hard to predict how likely it is that we are able to accept your application, this really depends on what applicant type you are and how popular the course you are applying for is. So our best advice is to have 3 priorities. This way we will hopefully be able to offer you one of the three courses.

What happens if I don’t get accepted to any of the courses I have applied for?

In that case there will be a second application round from May 1 - June 1 where courses with empty seats are offered in a second allocation round, where you can apply again for different courses.

How do I know if I am qualified for admission?

The first thing you can do to make sure you are qualified for admission for a specific course is to familiarize yourself with the prerequisites. You can see the specific prerequisites for each course on their course page. 
Apart from that all you can do is to send your application with the required documents attached. When we receive it, we will assess it shortly after and let you know if you are qualified for admission or if we need anything else from you/if you need to consider different courses or e.g take an English test in order to be qualified for admission.
We will send you an e-mail in either case so you know. 
Please note that being qualified for admission is not the same as being accepted/admitted, but it means that you will be admitted to the highest possible priority where there is space according to the general selection criteria when we start the admission process. 

If we are not able to admit you into any of your priorities we will refer you to our second allocation round. 

When and how do I pay if I am a freemover student?

You will have to pay by credit card via the online webshop link what we will send you with the acceptance letter. You will have 1 week to pay from the day you receive the acceptance letter.

Is it possible to get a refund if I change my plans?

Yes, you can get a full refund upon cancellations made at least two weeks prior to course start. It is not possible to get a refund for cancellations made within two weeks of course start    

I am unsure that I will receive the required documents (e.g language test or pre-approval) before the application deadline, can I still apply?

In that case you can still apply before 15 March @ 12 Noon CET and then send us the pre-approval later on. Please uploade documentation that you have applied for a preapproval or signed up for a language test. But please notice that we cannot register you for the course before we have it, so if the course is fully booked once you receive the pre-approval we will have to offer you an alternative course instead. 

How do I find out if my university has an exchange agreement with AU?

You should contact the international office at your home university and please refer them to this page when you do.

Will I automatically be accepted as an exchange student if I have a nomination?

No, your nomination must also be accepted by the receiving department/academic area at Aarhus University. If your nomination is not approved by AU or your home university will not nominate you, you can consider  applying as a freemover fee paying student instead.

Is it possible to sign up for two courses during the same term?

No. It is unfortunately not possible to take more than one course in each term, as they are taught concurrently.   

What is included in the course fee?

The fee only covers the actual course fee (incl. 5% administration fee).

This means that books, course material, housing, social programme and meals are not included in the fees and must be paid separately.

You can find more information about fees and living expences here.

Do you have any scholarships available for AU Summer University?

No! Unfortunately, we do not have any kind of scholarships available for AU Summer University courses.

As a freemover, do I have to pay the EU or NON-EU fee?

If you are applying as a freemover, you will have to pay the EU-fee if you

  • Are an EU Citizen
  • Have a permanent residence permit in Denmark
  • Have a temporary residence permit with a view to/possibility of permanent residence in Denmark
  • Are under the Children of workers from non-EU/EEA countries rule

If none of the above applies to you, you have to pay the NON-EU fee. You can find the EU and non-EU fee for each course on the individual course sites.

How many ECTS points/courses can I take?

The maximum amount of ECTS points you can take is 20, and the maximum of courses you can take is two. Thw two courses can not be in the same term. So, you can take 5,10,15 or 20 points - but all our courses are either 5 or 10 ects.     

What time of the day is the teaching?

Usually between 9-12 for 5 ects point courses and 9-13 for 10 ects point course, this is what we will recommend the lecturers and most of them follow our advice. You will receive a detailed schedule and syllabus in June in good time before the course starts so you know what to prepare.