Aalborg University does not carry out pre-assessments of your bachelor degree?in order to determine if you are eligible for admission or not. Instead you must apply for admission and wait for an answer to your application. Please remember to prioritize your applications in the Application Portal.

Admission to a Master¡¯s programme ¨C whether it is taught in English or Danish ¨C requires:

• Successful completion of a relevant and recognised university Bachelor¡¯s degree equivalent to a Danish Bachelor¡¯s degree in level and length (180 ECTS).
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• Successful fulfilment of specific admission requirements related to the relevant Master's degree programme.
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• Successful fulfilment of language requirements, i.e. an?AAU approved English test?for Master¡¯s programmes taught in English, and a Danish proficiency test (Studiepr?ven i Dansk) in case a programme is taught in Danish.
  Before a certain deadline you must meet these requirements.

Please note that the majority of our programmes have restricted admission due to a limited number of places available. Consequently, meeting the admission requirements does not guarantee an offer of enrolment.

Each programme states its admission requirements in the academic regulations as well as at the?programme specific website.?

Please note that engineering programmes require the applicant to hold a bachelor's degree in technical science, bachelor of engineering or a bachelor's degree natural science in order to apply, ?cf. appendix 2 section 3.2 in declaration no. 51 of 14 January 2024.

This means that you cannot apply for our engineering programmes if you hold a professional bachelor's degree, a bachelor's degree in humanities or a bachelor's degree in social science.

Engineering programmes at Aalborg University:?

• Advanced Power Electronics (Esbjerg)
• Architecture, MSc in Engineering (Aalborg)
• Bioengineering (Esbjerg)
• Biotechnology (Aalborg)
• Byggeledelse (Aalborg)
• Chemical Engineering (Esbjerg)
• Chemistry (Aalborg)
• Computer Engineering / AI, Vision and Sound (Aalborg)
• Computer Engineering / Networks and Distributed Systems (Aalborg)
• Cyber Security (Copenhagen)
• Electronic Systems (Aalborg)
• Energy Engineering / Electrical Power Systems and High Voltage Engineering (Aalborg)
• Energy Engineering / Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technology (Aalborg)
• Energy Engineering / Mechatronic Control Engineering (Aalborg)
• Energy Engineering / Power Electronics and Drives (Aalborg)
• Energy Engineering / Thermal Energy and Process Engineering (Aalborg)
• Energy Engineering / Wind Power Systems (Aalborg)
• Indoor Environmental and Energy Engineering (Aalborg)
• Industrial Design, MSc in Engineering (Aalborg)
• Management Engineering / Operations and Innovation Management (Aalborg)
• Management Engineering / Operations and Supply Chain Management (Aalborg)
• Matematik-teknologi (Aalborg)
• Mechanical Engineering / Biomechanical Engineering (Aalborg)
• Mechanical Engineering / Design of Mechanical Systems (Aalborg)
• Mechanical Engineering / Electro-Mechanical System Design (Aalborg)
• Mechanical Engineering / Manufacturing Technology (Aalborg)
• Physics and Technology / Nanobiotechnology
• Physics and Technology / Nanomaterials and Nanophysics
• Produkt- og Designpsykologi (Aalborg)
• Robotics (Aalborg)
• Software (Copenhagen)
• Software (Aalborg)
• Structural and Civil Engineering (Aalborg)
• Structural Design and Analysis (Esbjerg)
• Sundhedsteknologi (Aalborg)
• Sustainable Biotechnology (Copenhagen)
• Sustainable Cities (Copenhagen)
• Sustainable Design (Copenhagen)
• Sustainable Energy Engineering / Offshore Energy Systems (Esbjerg)
• Sustainable Energy Engineering / Fluids and Process Systems (Esbjerg)
• Urban Design, MSc in Engineering (Aalborg)
• Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning / Cities and Sustainability (Aalborg)
• Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning / Environmental Management and Sustainability Science (Aalborg)
• Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning / Sustainable Energy Planning and Management (Aalborg)
• Urban, Energy and Environmental Planning / Urban Planning and Management (Aalborg)
• Veje og trafik (Aalborg)
• Water and Environmental Engineering (Aalborg)

Restricted admission means that there might be fewer study places than qualified applicants. Thus meeting the admission requirements does not necessarily guarantee an offer of enrolment. If a programme has open admission all qualified applications are offered admission.

Facts regarding?the number of places available, the selection criteria and open or restricted admission are outlined in the text box ¡®Application and Requirements¡¯ on the?programme specific website.

If you have a foreign bachelor's degree your application will always be sent to be individually assessed by the specific programme, to which you have applied.

Please note that a foreign bachelor's degree is not necessarily deemed to be comparable to a Danish bachelor's degree.

You can contact the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science to have your bachelor's degree level assessed according to the Danish Education system:

• ?"General assessments for specific countries" - general assessments for specific countries
• "Before applying for assessment of your qualifications" - apply for a level assessment of your bachelor's degree

For current AAU students only
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A legal claim means that you have the right to be admitted to the Master's programme, which constitutes the natural extension of the subject area of your Bachelor¡¯s degree. The legal claim applies to the Master¡¯s programme on the University in which you took your Bachelor¡¯s degree. In the curriculum for each Master¡¯s programme, you can see which Bachelor¡¯s programmes that gives you a legal claim for the Master¡¯s programme. Please note that the legal claim only is valid on the campus, where your Bachelor¡¯s degree is passed.

So far, the legal claim for admission has been valid only in immediate continuation of the completion of your Bachelor¡¯s degree at Aalborg University.

As of 1 July 2019, the legal claim is extended to be valid for three years.

Those three years of legal claim is calculated from the first-coming summer intake, after you have passed your Bachelor¡¯s degree, and ends after the summer intake three years after. In other words, if you hold a legal claim to a Master¡¯s programme, you have, including your year of dimension, the possibility to apply for admission to the Master¡¯s programme, to which you have a legal claim, at four intakes (the year of dimension and the three following intakes during the summer).

The legal claim can only be used one time. The legal claim is used, when you have applied for admission and accepted the offered study place on the Master¡¯s programme to which you have a legal claim. If you have not accepted the offered study place, the legal claim is not considered used, and thereby you continue to have a legal claim, if the three years has not passed.??

The legal claim is first used when you have accepted the offered study place. The minute you accept the offered study places at a Master¡¯s programme, to which you have a legal claim, the legal claim is considered used, and consequently it will not be possible to use the legal claim for a later intake.

Please note that the legal claim only is valid, when you apply for admission within the given application deadline

The legal claim for admission to a Master¡¯s programme is limited to the Master¡¯s programme offered at the campus on which you have completed your Bachelor's programme.

Accept an offer of admission in time

Please note that in order to maintain your legal claim for admission, you must accept the offer of admission in time. The deadline for accepting an offered place will appear from your admission letter.

Legal claim and restricted admission

If your legal claim gives admission to an entry-restricted programme, you have to be particular alert to use your legal claim, since you in the period with a legal claim is assured a study place on the Master¡¯s programme to which you have legal claim. Not until all applicants with a legal claim has been offered a study place, other qualified applicants are offered the remaining study places.

Please note that the legal claim for admission applies to the study programme related to your bachelor programme and only to the entire study programme, not to a specific track or specialisation of the programme.?

Exemption in order to register for subjects at a Master¡¯s programme

As a general rule, admission to a Master¡¯s programme requires that you have completed your Bachelor's studies. However, if you still need to pass minor parts of your Bachelor's programme at AAU, your study board may grant you exemption from this rule. You must apply for an exemption; and your study board will then assess whether you would be able to pass your Bachelor¡¯s programme or not while attending courses at your Master's programme.

However, while still being enrolled in and in the process of completing a Bachelor's programme, you must not attend courses and exams exceeding 30 ECTS points at a Master's programme. Thus, you cannot register for courses exceeding 30 ECTS until you have completed your Bachelor's studies.

Please note that this exemption may only be granted to current students at AAU and is pursuant to Danish legislation.

When and how to apply for exemption

Please apply for the exemption simultaneously with your application for admission. In case your delay does not become apparent to you until after the application deadline, please send the application for exemption as soon as possible and no later than 25 August. This deadline also applies if the result of a re-examination in August is not known by 25 August. Apply for exemption by filling out the application form available at this webpage and send it to the Admissions Office.

Application form

The admissions office

Additional examination attempt?

If you have not passed all examinations of your Bachelor¡¯s programme and have used up the 3 examination attempts, you must apply for exemption in order to have an additional examination attempt. You must send your application for exemption to your study board.
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SU and delays

Please note that you will not be entitled to receive SU (the state education grant) for a Master's programme until you have completed your Bachelor¡¯s degree.

Read more about SU

Assessing your application for admission

As a general rule, only courses that form part of your Bachelor¡¯s degree will be taken into consideration in the assessment of your basis for admission to a Master¡¯s programme.

Only two particular cases allow for supplementary courses (max 30 ECTS) to be taken into account:

1. Supplementary courses before completing your bachelor¡¯s degree

Supplementary courses have been completed before the completion of your Bachelor¡¯s degree. The supplementary courses should be selected courses from a Bachelor's programme offered as part-time studies. Please upload documentation of the completion of such courses when you apply for admission to the Master¡¯s programme.

2. Supplementary courses as part of your master¡¯s programme

Supplementary courses are completed after you have been granted conditional admission to a Master¡¯s programme at AAU. Aalborg University is responsible for outlining which supplementary courses you may attend. The courses take place during the summer or during the first year of your Master¡¯s programme. The supplementary courses will be selected courses from a Bachelor's programme. The courses will be offered as part-time studies.The courses must be passed within the deadline stipulated in the letter of conditional admission; if you do not pass the courses within the prescribed deadline, you cannot enrol in the Master¡¯s programme/continue the Master's programme.

Which aau programmes accept supplementary courses?

Each study board may decide whether supplementary courses are accepted in order to meet the admission requirements for the study programme in question. Facts on supplementary courses are described in the text box ¡®Application and Requirements¡¯ at the website of each programme. 

Payment for supplementary courses

When you need to take supplementary courses you must pay DKK 600 per ECTS. You will receive an invoice for the payment when you have been admitted to supplementary course.

Please note that once you have received admission notification from us, it may take 1 - 3 weeks before you receive an invoice for the course/courses under the Empty-place Scheme.

Once we have received and registered your payment, you will be enrolled to the course/courses.

New rates from January 2026
DKK 1.000 per ECTS point.

Non-EU citizens

Please note that Non-Eu citizens must pay an additional fee per ECTS.  The additional fee varies from DKK 287 to DKK 760 per ECTS depending on the specific programme.

How to apply for the supplementary courses?

You can only apply for supplementary courses if you have been specifically asked to do so via your admisison letter.

You can apply here 

SU and supplementary courses

A tuition fee will be charged for supplementary courses. SU is not granted for supplementary courses.

If you have completed a master¡¯s degree, you are not eligible to start a second degree at an equivalent or lower level unless there are available study places. This limitation applies to all applicants holding a master¡¯s degree regardless of whether it is a Danish or an international master¡¯s degree.

If you are offered admission to a master¡¯s programme, before you finish your current master¡¯s programme, but you obtain your master¡¯s degree afterwards, you cannot start on your new programme, unless it has available study places.

Please note that the master's degree rule only applies to master's degrees that are assessed to be at the same level as a Danish master's degree. Read more about level assessment.

Please note that the master¡¯s degree rule also apply for applicants with a legal claim. 

Exemption from the master¡¯s degree rule

If you want to apply for an exemption due to special circumstances, you must upload your application for exemption to your application in the Application Portal. If Aalborg University grants you an exemption, your application for admission will be assessed equally with other applications for the specific programme.

Aalborg University can give an exemption from the master¡¯s degree rule if we assess that you due to special circumstances cannot use your master¡¯s degree on the job market.

When we assess your application for exemption, we consider the character and extent of the special circumstances, you submit documentation for.

Additionally, we consider that most master¡¯s programme provides qualifications and competences, that are so general, that they can be used in several different jobs.

Unemployment within specific fields or a shift in interest is not considered as a special circumstance, that can lead to an exemption.

If we assess that you still have opportunities to make use of your Master¡¯s programme, your application for exemption will be rejected.

The decision regarding exemption will always happen after a concrete, individual assessment. In practice, Aalborg University will rarely be able to make an exemption of the Master¡¯s degree rule.  

The application for an exemption

In a short text you must explain why you cannot make use of your previous master¡¯s degree on the job market.

Additionally, you must submit documentation that confirms what you write in your application. For example a doctor's note or medical records you have received, when you were diagnosed with a reduced ability to work within your field of education.

If you want to apply for an exemption for the master¡¯s degree rule on a bachelor¡¯s programme, you must upload your application for exemption including documentation to your application on www.optagelse.dk no later than 15 March 12 noon.

If you want to apply for an exemption for the master¡¯s degree rule  on a master¡¯s programme, you must upload your application for exemption including documentation to your application in the Application Portal no later than 1 March 23.59 CET.

You can prove your language proficiency by uploading a certificate from one of the following tests. The scores shown are the minimum requirements:?

• IELTS Academic?(including IELTS Online): 6.5 overall band score with a minimum score of 6.0 in each section.? AAU does not accept IELTS One-skill Retake.
• TOEFL iBT?(Internet-based + Home Edition): 85 with a minimum score of 20 in each section.?? AAU does not accept?TOEFL Essentials or MyBest scores. ??
• C2 Proficiency?(CPE):?180/ level C1?
• C1 Advanced?(CAE): 180/ grade C?
• ECPE: Test must be passed?

Please note that Aalborg University will verify all tests at the specific test center.?

When applying, you must upload one of the accepted test or an official receipt confirming that you have registered for one of the approved English tests. If you upload an English test receipt, we will later ask you to upload the final English test results to the Application Portal, if you are admitted to AAU. ?See deadline for uploading English test results here.?

Danish bachelor¡¯s degree?
If you hold a bachelor's degree from a Danish university and took one of the specified English tests less than two years prior to your admission ¨C achieving a score that meets our minimum requirements ¨C you may qualify for an exemption from retaking the test, even if your certificate is now more than two years old. ?

Please send us an e-mail if you have questions or want to hear more.?

You meet the English requirement if you have passed English B from a Danish upper secondary school with a minimum grade of 2.0 on the Danish 7-point grading scale.  

Your diploma from an EU/EEA upper secondary school may be sufficient to prove your language proficiency:

• You must document the amount of 60 minutes English lessons per school year, and the number of years you have attended your upper secondary school.
• To do this, you must use AAU's Verification form which must be signed and stamped by your upper secondary school and submitted along with your full upper secondary school diploma and transcript of records showing the grades you received during the last three years of upper secondary school.
• English as a subject must be passed with a grade equivalent to a minimum of 2.0 on the Danish 7-point grading scale.

International Baccalaureate: English B, standard level (SL) with a minimum score of 3 on the IB grading scale.

European Baccalaureate: L III or L IV with a minimum of 5.00¨C6.60 on the EB grading scale (6.00¨C6.49 before 2021).

AAU only accepts upper secondary school diplomas from these English speaking countries:

• Australia
• Canada
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• UK
• USA

• All tests that are not mentioned above, e.g. Duolingo and Pearson Test of English (PTE)
• Realkompetencevurdering (RKV) ?
• Upper secondary school diplomas, that are not specifically mentioned in the section above.?
• Bachelor¡¯s and master's degrees taught in English, regardless of country or language of instruction. ?
• IELTS and TOEFL tests that are more than 2 years old by the application deadline. ?
• TOEFL MyBest Scores and IELTS One Skill Retake.?All English test results must meet the minimum requirements in one sitting to be considered valid.??

If you apply for a programme taught in Danish and your qualifying bachelor's degree was not taught in Danish, you must prove your Danish language proficiency in one of the following ways:

• Passed Danish A at upper secondary level
• Bachelor's degree with Danish tuition language (must be documented)
• Passed Study Exam/Proficiency Test/Higher Education Examination (¡°Studiepr?ven¡±) in Danish as a foreign language. If you apply to the Master's degree programme in Pharmacy, you must have passed the study test with a minimum grade average of 7.0 on the Danish grading scale.
• Passed Norwegian, Swedish, or Icelandic on a level equivalent to the Danish A-level. To see if you qualify, check the guides for conversion of Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic course levels.
• International Baccalaureate: Danish A1, higher level (HL) eller Danish A Literature, higher Level (HL) (fra 2013) med min. 3 p? IB-karakterskalaen
  European Baccalaureate: L I, L II eller L III i Dansk med min. 5,00-6,60 p? EB-karakterskalaen (6,00-6,49 f?r 2021).