Applications from students from Bangladesh have more than doubled in one year, making them the largest group of international Master’s degree students at AU

There has been a growing interest among international students in doing a Master’s degree at Aarhus University. Applicants from Germany, Spain and Italy – among other countries – have contributed to the increase. But in 2023 and 2024, one country outside Europe caused the statistics to skyrocket: 

Bangladesh, the South Asian country with more than 170 million inhabitants. 

In 2023, AU received 848 Master’s degree applications from Bangladeshi students. The following year, this number more than doubled; AU received 2,063 applications from Bangladesh. In comparison, AU received 887 applications from China in 2024, the number 2 country on the list. In both 2023 and 2024, the majority of international applications to AU were from Bangladeshi students, and in 2024 they accounted for more than half of all applications to AU from countries outside the EU. This is a new trend –  in 2022, there were under 100 applications to AU from Bangladeshi students. 

The increase means that Bangladeshi students are now the largest group of international students at AU. 154 students from Bangladesh were admitted to a Master’s degree programme in 2024. The second largest group of international students is 110 students from Germany. In 2023, 50 students from Bangladesh were admitted to a Master’s degree programme. In 2022, Bangladeshi students weren’t even on the top ten list of international students by country, the smallest of which was 21 admissions. 

AU surprised by the number of applications

The admissions unit at AU Student Administration and Services, which responsible for screening applications, has certainly taken note of the sudden pronounced increase of applications from Bangladesh. 

Frederik Langkjær, who manages the unit AU Student Administration and Services – Quality, Educational Law and Admissions, says that the administration was surprised by the continued increase of applications from Bangladesh in 2024. So the admissions unit made a special effort to make sure they were prepared to handle the volume of applications for this year’s application round. For example, they checked the number of applications received in late December, so they could hire temporary staff and bring in extra student assistants to help with the processing of applications if necessary, explains Frederik Langkjær. 

The application deadline for applications outside the EU was January 15, and it’s clear that the upward trend in applications is continuing, although not as dramatically as in the previous years. AU received 2,349 applications from Bangladesh this year, an increase of almost 300 applicants compared to 2024.

Head of the English department: We are under a lot of strain

Several of the research and teaching programmes that offer Master’s degree programmes in English have also registered the increase in applications from Bangladesh. Peter Mortensen, head of the Department of English at the School of Communication and Culture at Arts, is surprised by the sudden increase in the number of applications from Bangladesh.

“Applications to our programme increased dramatically from one year to the next. These aren’t the trends we normally see. I’m very surprised by all these applications,” says Peter Mortensen, who explains that processing the many applications is a strain on the department’s resources.

In the 2024 admissions round, the department received 123 applications to the Master’s degree programme in Intercultural Studies and 150 applications to the Master’s degree programme in English from Bangladesh. He says the department will struggle to handle the applications if the increase continues in 2025.

“We are already under a lot of strain due to the large number of applicants”

“It is an enormous task to assess each of these applicants individually, so if this trend continues, I don’t know what we’re going to do. We are already under a lot of strain due to the large number of applicants.”

“Academically challenged”

At Aarhus BSS the Master’s degree programmes in Economics and Business Administration are popular among applicants from Bangladesh, explains Lars Esbjerg, associate professor at the Department of Management. Last year, the Economics and Business Administration degree programmes received 313 first-choice applications from Bangladesh out of a total of 615 first-choice applications from students outside the EU. And it looks as if applications in 2025 will follow the same trend. 93 students from Bangladesh were offered summer admission in 2024, and as of 1 October 2024, 61 of them were still enrolled at AU. 

“We’re seeing mixed results, as some students from Bangladesh are doing well, but we can also see that others are academically challenged,” says director of studies for the business administration programme, Lars Esbjerg.

The increase in Bangladeshi students combined with the academic challenges faced by some of them led him decided to take a closer look at the students’ Bachelor degree qualifications. On paper, they meet the admission requirements, but the review revealed that many Bangladeshi students don’t conclude their Bachelor's studied by writing a Bachelor's project. In response to this,  the board of studies has added a requirement for all applicants to have written a Bachelor's project starting with 2025 admissions. The new requirement has been put in place to help make sure that the the students admitted have the right academic qualifications, says Lars Esbjerg. 

“We added this requirement starting this year  because being able to work independently on a larger project and engage with your subject at a deep level is important here. I have spoken with colleagues from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) and Aalborg University (AAU). We were inspired by SDU, who introduced the requirement that applicants needed to have written a Bachelor's project last year,” says Lars Esbjerg. 

Omnibus contacted SDU to find out whether they are seeing a similar increase in the number of applications and whether this poses any challenges for them. SDU sent us this a brief written response: 

“SDU admits students from Bangladesh. It is generally important to emphasise that SDU only admits students who meet the requirements set for the degree programmes in question, including both academic qualifications and language requirements.”

Higher failure rate 

In response to a question about what kind of specific academic challenges lecturers find these students to have, Lars Esbjerg (who stressed that his intention is not to stigmatise anyone) explains: 

“The feedback I have received from teachers and track coordinators indicates that some students are not as theoretically grounded as our own students who have completed a BSc in Economics and Business Administration or another BSc or BA Soc.” 

He points out that several of these students have applied to change tracks due to academic challenges. 

“Some of the students from Bangladesh quickly realised that they had difficulty keeping up in class. Some of them have applied to change tracks, but because we had a really good admission year in 2024, not everyone who applied has been able to do so,” says Lars Esbjerg.

He mentions that another indicator of the challenges faced by this group is exams. 

“This may also be reflected in the significantly higher exam failure rate,” he says.

The director of studies doesn’t wish to elaborate on the numbers, but confirms that students from Bangladesh have a higher failure rate and earn lower grades than other students. 

“I think it’s an unfortunate situation that they come here, often with their families, pay for their education and then struggle academically”

“I think it’s an unfortunate situation that they come here, often with their families, pay for their education and then struggle academically,” he says, and adds:

“And it’s also a challenge for us that students from one nation make up such a large proportion of our international student body. Ideally, we would like a mixed group of international students, so that we don’t have groups of people from one country who mostly interact with each other. This makes it harder to integrate them into the programme’s academic and social environment,” he says.

As director of studies, he wants to focus more on how international students can be better integrated into their programmes and individual courses, academically and socially.

Why Denmark?

Omnibus spoke to a number of Master’s degree students from Bangladesh at Aarhus University. They say that they specifically applied to Danish universities because a student visa to Denmark gives you three years to find a job after completing your degree, after which you can apply for a residence and work permit. Furthermore, the possibility to bring your partner and children along was another important factor. According to these students, these conditions are better than those in Denmark’s neighbouring countries, which have made it more difficult for non-EU students to enrol in degree programmes in recent years.

Students from Bangladesh seek a better life in Denmark

Many students initially considered Norway as their first choice, but in autumn 2023, the country went from offering free education to non-EU applicants to charging a tuition fee. For example, if a student from a non-EU country wants to study an international Master’s degree in English and Literacy Studies at the University of Stavanger, it costs the equivalent of 105,000 DKK for one academic year. At AU, one academic year on the Master’s degree programme in English costs 60,000 DKK, which however makes it one of the cheaper Master’s degree programmes at AU. The Finnish government introduced an application fee and higher tuition fees for non-EU citizens last year.  

Several of the students from Bangladesh also said that Sweden isn’t a top choice either, due to the slow visa application process and the fact that very few applicants from Bangladesh end up being granted residency. A report from Riksrevisionen (the Swedish National Audit Office) published on 8 January this year addresses precisely this challenge:

“The admission process for third-country students coming to Sweden is very long process and lacks transparency, which presents a barrier to the recruitment of students. Sweden risks losing qualified students to other countries, where the processing of applicants is faster,” the report says. 

The UK reacted to a 930 percent increase

The students also said that the visa application process is a factor that makes applying to universities in Germany less attractive. For example, they have to be interviewed by the German visa authorities; setting up an interview can take up to two years. Students also aren’t allowed to bring their families with them to Germany until they find a job. 

Bangladeshi students also don’t see the UK as an attractive place to study any more, they explain. Last year, the UK closed the option of bringing your family with you for international students, except in a few cases.

The background for this decision, as explained by the former Conservative government, was that 152,980 people were granted visas as family members of international students in 2023, which is an increase of 930 percent over 2019, when 14,839 family members were granted visas. 

All of these changes have made Denmark an attractive Northern European destination, even though studying here as a non-EU citizen isn’t free and you aren’t entitled to social benefits such as SU.

Chair of Friendship Association: “A little easier to get through” 

Compared to many other countries, Denmark is a little easier to get into, according to the chair of Bandhab – Bangladesh Friendship Association, Afif Hossein, who himself earned a Master’s degree from Roskilde University in 2016. 

“The political unrest causes students to leave the country”

“The political unrest causes students to leave the country – not just to Denmark, but to many countries. But, compared to many other countries, it is a little easier to get through the immigration process in Denmark,” says Afif Hossein. 

It becomes more difficult when the student completes their degree and has to find a job in order to stay in the country, especially due to the language barrier, says Afif Hossein. 

“It is very difficult to get a job here. And there is more competition now that more people have come to Denmark. Even with a good education, in Denmark you might end up with a job that isn’t related to your degree, which ultimately makes it more difficult to extend your stay. "It's difficult to settle here long-term," he says.

AU Student Administration and Services clarifies requirements for applicants

While the individual degree programmes can adjust their own admission requirements, AU Student Administration and Services is working on how the university can clearly communicate the requirements for each individual programme, Frederik Langkjær says.

“We’re not trying to lower or increase the number of international applicants. We want to figure out how we can give the best guidance to both Danish and international students about the admissions requirements,” says Frederik Langkjær.

AU Student Administration and Services doesn’t have an answer for why there have been so many applicants from Bangladesh recently.

“We’re always happy that many applicants choose to apply to Aarhus University”

“I think we need to be prepared for developments in application patterns, as a natural part of globalisation. What I’m primarily focused on is how we can handle it when it happens,” says Frederik Langkjær and continues:

“Because of course, we’re pleased that lots of applicants choose to apply to Aarhus University, so it’s our job to ensure that we handle the administrative side of the process effectively and responsively,” he says.