Master in Advanced Migration Studies

The MA in Advanced Migration Studies at the University of Copenhagen is an English-language degree run by the Centre for Advanced Migration Studies (AMIS) together with the Saxo Institute. It asks how we can think critically about international migration across everyday experience, crisis and politics, and what borders, humanitarianism, climate change, labour and postcolonialism do to human mobility around the world, past and present.

What you study

The first year is coursework. You take International Migration (15 ECTS) and Researching Migration: Methodological Approaches (15 ECTS) in the first semester, then Key Concepts and Analytical Approaches in Migration Studies (15 ECTS) and Migration and Societies: Practices and Arenas (15 ECTS) in the second. The teaching builds a critical, reflexive and historically situated approach to migration and leaves room to explore the areas you care most about.

The second year opens with a mobility window worth 30 ECTS. You can choose an extended academic internship, an academic internship, or free topics, and university exchanges are also possible. The final semester is the master's thesis (30 ECTS). Thesis supervisors can be drawn from across the University of Copenhagen, and a close supervision system gives you personal guidance through the thesis process.

How the programme is organised

AMIS is an active research centre, and the degree draws on migration scholars from a range of academic disciplines. Student participation matters: you are invited and expected to join research events such as conferences, workshops and talks, and there is an annual student conference. Seminars and tutorials are where you practise presenting, discussing in groups and formulating complex research ideas and findings. The student council SCEMA covers European Ethnology, Applied Cultural Analysis and Advanced Migration Studies, and arranges social and academic events.

Who it suits

It suits someone who wants to question preconceptions about migration rather than repeat them, and who is comfortable with an empirically based, historically situated view of migration as an everyday practice of mobility that affects us all, whether we move or not. The programme promotes a critical, reflexive approach and pushes back against methodological presentism. If you like the mix of humanities and social science methods, especially ethnographic, historical and cultural analysis, this is built for you.

Admission, language and next steps

You need a qualifying bachelor's degree or another relevant Danish or foreign degree that the admission board assesses as meeting the academic requirements. A bachelor's degree from a Faculty of Humanities or a Faculty of Social Sciences with at least 30 ECTS in migration related topics meets the academic requirements automatically, provided you also meet English B. Other Danish or international degrees are assessed individually. The university does not offer pre-assessment of your educational background.

Applications go through the application portal. Applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland apply by 15 January at 23:59 CET and hear back by 13 March. Danish applicants and applicants from within the EU, EEA and Switzerland apply by 1 March at 23:59 CET and hear back by 15 May. Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland study free of charge; other students pay a fee set by the institution and an application deposit. The intake is capped. If qualified applicants exceed the places, academic relevance of your bachelor's degree and academic excellence count for 50%, and the relevance of your portfolio counts for 50%. The portfolio is a one-page CV, a one-page letter of academic relevance and/or one page on practice experience within migration related fields. Upload your transcript, programme description, course descriptions, proof of language proficiency, CV and passport or ID.

Master’s applications go straight to University of Copenhagen, not through optagelse.dk, and the institution sets its own deadline. The register shows 15 January 2027 as the next deadline for this programme. Intake, as the register states it: Starts 1 September 2027 (apply by 15 January 2027). Entry requirements and language tests are set by the institution, so start from the official programme page. Our guides cover tuition fees, residence permits and housing.