Scholarships for studying in Denmark: an honest look

The finding, stated first

There is very little scholarship money in Denmark for non-EU students, and the honest thing to do is say so rather than list schemes that will not fund you. A student who spends a year building a Denmark application around a scholarship that does not exist has lost the year, and the countries that do have money - Hungary, Sweden, Italy - close their windows in the same months.

Denmark is an excellent place to study. It is not a place to study on somebody else's money at master's level.

What Denmark actually costs

DKK 100,000 is roughly EUR 13,400. Take the maintenance figure from SIRI's own page - it is revised every year and it is the number your application is assessed against, not any figure quoted elsewhere.

What does exist

University tuition waivers and scholarships. Danish universities receive a limited allocation from the state for scholarships for non-EU students and decide themselves how to distribute it. Typically that means a small number of full or partial tuition waivers, occasionally combined with a modest grant toward living costs. Each university publishes its own scheme, its own deadline and its own criteria; the volume is genuinely small and the competition correspondingly heavy.

Danish Government Scholarships under Cultural Agreements. These exist, and they are open only to nationals of a short list of countries agreed bilaterally, with many awards directed at Danish language and culture study rather than a full degree. Check the current country list on the official portal before assuming Bangladesh is included.

Erasmus Mundus joint master's degrees involving Danish universities. This is EU money, not Danish money, and it is a real and fully funded route - though extremely competitive. It is covered in the Erasmus Mundus guide.

Nordic-specific schemes. Covered alongside Finland and Sweden in the Nordic scholarships guide.

The route that is actually funded

A Danish PhD position is a job. It is advertised, applied for, interviewed for, and it pays a salary with pension and holiday entitlements attached. You are an employee of the university, not a fee-paying student, and you can bring family under the rules that apply to workers rather than students.

That changes the whole calculation for anyone who is realistically PhD-capable. Instead of asking how to fund a Danish master's, the better question is whether a funded master's elsewhere in Europe followed by a Danish PhD is the stronger plan - and for a research-minded student it usually is. The mechanics are in the PhD funding guide.

The requirement is normally a completed master's degree, so this is a two-step route, not a shortcut.

What Denmark gives you in return for the money

Being honest about the funding is not the same as arguing against Denmark. What you get:

• Genuinely high teaching quality, and small, discussion-based classes.
• A student work allowance during term, with wages high enough that part-time work materially offsets living costs - unlike in Hungary or Bulgaria, where it does not.
• A post-study job-seeking period, and a labour market where English works in many sectors.
• A safe, well-run country with strong graduate outcomes.

The trade is straightforward: high cost in, strong prospects out. That is a defensible decision for a family that can fund it. It is not a decision to make on the assumption that a scholarship will appear.

If the money is not there

Say so early and re-plan, rather than applying anyway and hoping. The realistic alternatives among the countries we work with:

The country comparison is in the Denmark guide, and the wider cost picture in the cost of studying guide.

Why applications fail

1. 1Building the plan on a scholarship that was never likely, and missing other countries' deadlines while waiting.
2. 2Applying to a Cultural Agreement scheme without checking whether Bangladesh is on the list.
3. 3Underestimating living costs. Copenhagen is among the more expensive cities in Europe.
4. 4Assuming part-time work will bridge the gap before arrival. It helps once you are settled; it does not satisfy the residence permit, which is assessed before you fly.