University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is a public research university in Denmark's capital. It was founded in 1479, which makes it the oldest university in Denmark and the second oldest in Scandinavia after Uppsala. Teaching happens across four campus areas in and around Copenhagen: North Campus, City Campus, South Campus and Frederiksberg Campus. The university is a central part of the city rather than a campus set apart from it.

The university has a long and eventful history. It was dissolved around 1531 during the spread of Protestantism and re-established in 1537 by King Christian III after the Lutheran Reformation. Degree examinations were introduced between 1675 and 1788. In 1807 most of its buildings were badly damaged during the British bombardment of Copenhagen, and a new main building was inaugurated by 1836. The first female students, Nielsine Nielsen and Johanne Marie Gleerup, enrolled on the medical programme. In 2007 the university merged with the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University and the Danish University of Pharmaceutical Science.

Teaching is organised into faculties, and students are expected to take a critical and independent approach to their studies. The register lists eight faculties offering over 200 academic programmes across health sciences, humanities, law, life sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, natural sciences, social sciences and theology. A student tradition is the Friday bar, run by students at each department, where students and staff socialise.

In the Study in Denmark register the university appears as a research university with 49 English-taught degree programmes, all at master's level. Subjects include medicine and health sciences, data science, humanities and theology, agriculture, anthropology, area studies, computer science, economics, development studies, biomedical science, accounting, law and pharmacy.

For an international student, undergraduate applications go through optagelse.dk, while master's applications go directly to the university. Students from outside the EU/EEA need a residence permit via SIRI. Study is free for EU/EEA and Swiss students, and others pay an institutional fee. The university welcomes more than 1,700 international students each year and helps with admission, housing and student counselling, plus orientation programmes with social events. Students often live in student residences or shared apartments in Copenhagen.