Tech is the last faculty at Aarhus University to finalise its plan for how the Master’s reform and the politically mandated sector resizing will be implemented.

According to Vice-dean Finn Borchsenius, the faculty’s solution will make it possible to avoid closing any programmes.

"We’ve decided to base our resizing on the idea that each department must contribute in order to make the math work, thereby ensuring that we can avoid closing programmes altogether," he says.

He continues:

"It was important for us to retain a broad education portfolio so we can continue to educate students for many sectors of the knowledge society. But we’re also in a situation where there are no winners unfortunately – not the students, not the university, not the companies. Our hands are tied by political agreement and it has never been our wish to train fewer engineers or graduates for the green transition of our agriculture and food production."
 

113 student places axed
 

The resizing requirements of the Master’s reform are based on the average intake on Bachelor’s degree programmes in the period 2018-2022 (base years). At Tech, this means that the faculty'sBScEng programmes will lose student places compared to the base years and lose the increase in admissions they have experienced since 2022. Overall, this means 73 fewer student places from 2026.

AU Viborg can admit 160 students to the Bachelor's degree programmes in Veterinary Medicine, Animal Science and Plant and Food Science. This is a reduction of 40 student places compared to the framework of 200, which was agreed in connection with the relocation reform, when the programmes opened in 2023.

Veterinary medicine is the only one of Tech's programmes exempt from resizing because it is part of a comprehensive financial and political agreement and has crucial strategic importance for AU Viborg's overall development.

Finn Borchsenius emphasises that a unanimous faculty management team is behind the allocation of student places, and that there are also positive elements to be found in the reformed landscape at the faculty.

"Bachelor of Engineering programmes are not covered by the resizing requirements of the Master’s reform. In collaboration with prospective employers, we’re developing a new, flexible Master's degree programme for working professionals, which we have high expectations for, and the reform also adds more international student places," he says.

The political parties behind the Master’s reform will evaluate the development in university admissions in 2028.

Finn Borchsenius hopes that the 2028 evaluation will secure more student places on programmes with low graduate unemployment rates.

"This reform will also greatly affect companies that have a high demand for our graduates. I anticipate that our politicians will realise that it makes no sense to restrict young people's access to degree programmes that society desperately needs," he says.

The faculty management team also plans to revisit the allocation of student places between the individual degree programmes in 2028 – or earlier if the framework for the number of student places changes.

A new framework for Master's degree programmes is on its way

In addition to the sector resizing requirement, the Master's reform also includes a decision that 30 per cent of Danish Master's degree programmes must be converted into one-year Master’s programmes or Master's degree programmes for working professionals.

Politicians have set different conversion requirements for Master’s degree programmes in different academic fields. At Tech, this means that the MScEng programmes must convert 15 per cent of student places into Master's degree programmes for working professionals. The Animal Science, Plant Science, and Molecular Nutrition and Food Technology programmes must convert 30 per cent of student places. However, the programme in Veterinary Medicine cannot be converted as it is an authorisation-granting programme.

"We’ve been tasked with an enormous and important responsibility, and creating a relevant and interesting programme requires close collaboration both internally and externally. It also opens up the possibility of strengthening the link between our research environments and the business community via our students, and the new programme for working professionals will be an important source for companies when they’re head-hunting," says Finn Borchsenius.

At Tech, the change will be gradually implemented in the period 2026 to 2032. However, a pilot project will already be launched in 2025 in the form of a Master's degree programme in water technology, which will be anchored at the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering.
 

More international students

As a result of the Master's degree reform, Danish universities can look forward to more international student places reserved for European students (EU-EEA).

AU has already been allocated 90 extra places with 30 of those places being reserved for Tech. The remaining student places will be allocated in 2028.

"It's great that we can welcome more international students to the faculty's English-language programmes. It's a win for the university and for Danish society as a whole," he says.