When the government came to a broad-based agreement at the end of June on the relocation of study programmes, they also agreed to reduce the number of degree programmes being offered through English. The agreement should mean a reduction in SU payments to international students.

The agreement means that 87 degree programmes conducted through English across the country will be closed. The vast majority of the degree programmes are being offered at university colleges and business academies, but one of them is offered at Aarhus University, namely the professional Bachelor's degree in Global Management and Manufacturing (GMM) at BTECH in Herning. This is a surprise for acting vice-dean for education at Aarhus BSS (Aarhus University, School of Business and Social Sciences), Morten Rask.

”I’m surprised that a degree programme with only five English-speaking students is being closed down, and I’m surprised that it’s been decided to close a degree programme in Herning. It’s exactly the opposite to the rest of the reform which is about relocating degree programmes away from the cities,” said Morten Rask, and he continued:

”The dropout rate on GMM is very low. It’s a degree programme where graduates find employment immediately after completing their studies. Based on the evaluation criteria we measure, this is a good degree programme.”

From the 2019 admissions to the GMM degree programme, of the 26 students, five of them were English-speaking students.

On 15 September, Aarhus BSS submitted an application to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science asking for permission to change the language of instruction on GMM from English to Danish.

”It means that we’ll lose some of the global mindset we currently have on the degree programme, among other things by virtue of the international students, and that is disappointing,” said Morten Rask.  

Omnibus tried to obtain a comment from the Ministry regarding why it has decided to close the GMM programme at BTECH, but they have not yet returned with a comment.

Changes in the market

As previously mentioned, the majority of degree programmes facing closure are at university colleges and business academies. Business Academy Aarhus has been asked to either close or change the language of instruction from English to Danish on nine of its programmes. VIA University College, which among other things offers programmes in Horsens and Aarhus, must either close or change the language of instruction from English to Danish on ten of its programmes.

Irrespective of whether the affected degree programmes are discontinued or have the language of instruction changed to Danish, the degree programme landscape will be changed in central Jutland, and this may have consequences for the market of students and thus have an impact on AU.

As things are now, there may be overlap in some of the content on degree programmes offered by the various institutions. If a large number of the affected degree courses change their language of instruction to Danish, the demand for Danish students will increase. Closing a large number of places on degree programmes may cause an increased demand for places on the remaining programmes. According to Morten Rask, it is however too early for AU to act on a possible change in the market.  

”We’ll only do something once we know about the actions of the other institutions of higher education and the consequences it may have. I believe that we will certainly continue to advertise the degree programme in Herning, but we’ve no plans to do anything right now. What’s most important for us right now is that the degree programme in Global Management and Manufacturing can continue in Danish,” said Morten Rask.

For now, Aarhus BSS and BTECH are still waiting on an answer regarding whether the degree programme in Global Management and Manufacturing can continue through Danish. The agreement takes effect from 1 January 2022 and therefore the work required to run the course in Danish needs to be finalised before then.

Translated by Marian Flanagan