Foto: Stamers Kontor

DTU creates additional student places due to large number of applicants

A very large number of applicants—to DTU’s IT programmes in particular—has led DTU to create an additional 102 student places in addition to the 110 places planned in response to last year’s application numbers.

DTU’s brand new study programme, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, attracted no less than 164 applications and is now closed with a very high minimum grade point average for admission of 10.9 despite a 50% increase in the number of student places from 30 to 45 after the deadline for applying. In general this year, DTU has seen an increased interest in the study programmes focusing on IT. A total of 2,340 applicants have been offered a place to study at DTU.

“Basically, we think that it’s a real shame to turn away energetic young people who are keen to study engineering. We have therefore, at very short notice, increased the number of student places on several of our study programmes after the application deadline on 5 July,” says Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs Martin Vigild. He continues:

“We don’t believe that you have to have a grade point average of more than 10 in order to become an engineer. We are seeing a strong interest from young people, and at the same time both society in general and industry in particular are crying out for more engineers. Next year, we will therefore be opening our doors to even more qualified and passionate young people.”

The BSc programme in Mathematics and Technology and DTU’s English-language programme in General Engineering have also made room for even more young aspiring engineers. Seventy-seven of the additional 212 student places created went to the BSc Eng and BEng programmes which focus on IT. IT-related programmes have seen a particularly significant increase in the number of first-priority applications of no less than 43% for the BSc Eng programmes and 18% for the BEng programmes.

“At DTU, we are of course extremely pleased that so many have applied to study engineering. It’s really great that young people are increasingly showing an interest in engineering. Increasing the number of student places on a popular study programme such as Data Science and Artificial Intelligence by 50% is far from enough. But the fact is that this is a brand new programme and with new content which reflects the fact that we live in an era of unprecedented technological development and research.
Deviating from the plan at such short notice and increasing the number of student places on a programme that has never been offered before is an immense challenge. But we simply couldn’t help it, when so many young people wanted in,” says Martin Vigild.

Impressive 9% increase

This year, all DTU’s BSc Eng programmes are full up. A total of 1,302 young people have been offered a place on one of DTU’s BSc Eng programmes after the summer holidays. This represents a 9% increase compared to 2017. As mentioned above, the increase is due, in particular, the two new study programmes. The new BSc Eng programme in Design of Sustainable Energy Systems is also off to a really good start, closing with a minimum grade point average for admission of 9.4.

Apart from the two new programmes, the BSc Eng programmes in Design and Innovation, Physics and Nanotechnology, and Human Life Science Engineering were some of the most popular programmes with closing minimum grade point averages for admission of 9.7, 9.6, and 9.8. At the bottom of this page, you can see all the study programmes with their minimum grade point averages for admission and development (in Danish).

Few places still available

This year, DTU has offered 1,035 young people a place on the BEng programmes. That represents an increase of 3% compared to 2017. This year, the programmes in Process and Innovation and Architectural Engineering were the most popular with minimum grade point averages for admission of 8.4 and 8.3.

The increase in the number of students admitted to the BEng programmes is primarily attributable to the extraordinary increase of the number of student places on the programmes in IT and Economics, which is offered in collaboration with Copenhagen Business School at Frederiksberg, and Software Technology, which are closed with a minimum grade point averages for admission of 8.0 and 7.8. There are still vacant places on five of DTU’s BEng programmes in other areas. These are:

  1. Arctic Technology 
  2. Chemical and Bio Engineering 
  3. Mechanical Engineering 
  4. Chemical Engineering and International Business 
  5. Mobility, Transport and Logistics

(Click on the name to read more about the individual study programmes)

From Saturday, 28 July 2018, you can apply for one of the vacant places via dtu.dk (in Danish) The application deadline is 8 August, and applicants will be notified on 15 August.

The new engineering students will be welcomed to DTU on Friday, 24 August for a general introduction to life as a student of engineering on the freshers’ trips which will take place in the following week. The start of the semester and the first day of class for all new DTU students is Monday, 3 September. Read more about study start at DTU here.