Press 2011

Relevant interest groups will be invited to give their thoughts on new forms of tests and exams before the Government reintroduces group exams from the next school year.

A new study shows that when international students end up in Denmark, it is often difficult to make Danish friends. The higher education minister therefore recommends that Danish students make more effort to involve their international counterparts.

The European Commission presented its proposal for Horizon 2020 on December 1st – the new framework programme for research and innovation that will be in effect for 2014-2020. The negotiations for Horizon 2020 will begin during the Danish EU Presidency in the first half of 2012.

The European Commission has presented a proposal for a new education programme entitled “Erasmus for All”, bringing together all EU education schemes. The Commission is paving the way for a considerable increase in the budget to promote student mobility and European educational cooperation.

All Nordic ministers for education and research met in Copenhagen on November 2nd to discuss common education and research issues.

The final figures are in and annual enrolment figures for higher education are up 10 per cent compared to 2010. As such, Denmark moves a step closer to acheiving the government's objective of 60 percent of a youth cohort receiving a higher education.

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education will informally be known as the Higher Education Ministry, while Morten Østergaard will be known as the Higher Education Minister.

The former Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has been renamed the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education. As a result, the ministry's fields of responsibility have been altered.

If the share of Danish businesses that digitalised at least one internal function increased by 1 percentage point, it would add up to DKK 6.5 billion in value annually to the entire private sector.

There was yet another historical intake at Danish universities in July this year, with significant increases in science and technical education. There was also significant interest in Aalborg University and the University of Southern Denmark.

The Danish Agency for International Education assesses foreign educational qualifications. And the Science Minister's recent annual report on the assessment and recognition of foreign educations shows that more and more highly-educated foreigners are having their degrees assessed.

The working group for foreign languages has completed a report with 42 recommendations for a foreign language strategy.

Danish students take the longest sabbatical, get the most state support and are among the most mobile of all European students. These conclusions and more have been revealed in the latest Eurostudent study that compares student living conditions across Europe. The report is being published today.

A new study concludes that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have difficulty accessing research articles, patents, technical reports and market information. Easier and cheaper access will create both innovation and growth in society.

Denmark has achieved the Barcelona objective of investing at least 3 percent of GDP in research and development – and reached the objective a year ahead of schedule.

Danish research in photonics can place Denmark at the forefront of high-speed internet society. And Danish research results are attracting much interest among leading American IT firms.

Denmark has been ranked second out of 31 European countries in the recently published Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010.