The Danish Ministry of Education has recently published “a strategy for enhanced outbound mobility in the academic profession and professional bachelor education programmes” titled ‘Stepping up study and internship abroad’. The paper lays out recommendations for the internationalisation of higher education that focus on institutional management, communication and the structure of study programmes, which should facilitate students’ study abroad periods.

The strategy is considered to be a necessary step for focusing on Danish outbound mobility trends in the university sector, given that a 10 percent increase was observed between 2000/01 and 2007/08 in the number of outbound Danish study abroad participants. During the last eight years, however, institutions of medium-cycle studies (including professional bachelor programmes) have been stagnating, with an approximate number of 1000 students studying abroad every academic year.

Denmark seems to be taking the challenge seriously. Student mobility (inbound and outbound) is a key and the most visible aspect of internationalisation of higher education. It also contributes to strengthening the quality of education programmes as well as the potential to attract international students. The purpose of the new Danish education strategy is to attract more young people to higher education, and to increase significantly the outbound trends in student mobility that can result in overall higher equality educational experiences and can ensure well-prepared graduates who can cope with the challenges of international labour markets.

The Danish Ministry of Education