Entry requirements

Fulfilment of the minimum academic requirements

Your educational background at bachelor level is subject to an overall, concrete assessment, in order to establish whether you complete the minimum required academic prerequisites to study the master programme you have applied for.

We expect you to have qualifications that are equivalent to a CBS bachelor degree. Your bachelor degree must be issued by a nationally or regionally accredited, internationally recognised institution of higher education. Furthermore, in order to be considered relevant and qualifying for the master's programme you are applying for, your bachelor degree must include specific academic disciplines, defined for each master programme as a certain number of ECTS-points within specific areas of study.

Your courses must have a specific academic content and level equivalent to bachelor courses at CBS. It is CBS Admissions who determine if a course can fulfil a certain academic requirement or not. We base our assessment on official course descriptions and study programme regulations published for your bachelor degree.

Typically, the academic requirements are covered by academic and research-based courses at bachelor level (for example, courses taken at CBS, Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen and similar research-based PhD-granting institutions of higher education).

If you completed vocational, practice-oriented courses (for example, courses as part of a Danish Professional bachelor’s degree programme), their academic level and content will not be equivalent to  CBS bachelor courses, and they are therefore unlikely to cover the academic requirements of master programmes at CBS.

The exact number of ECTS-points stated in the academic requirements must be covered. For example, 29 ECTS-points are not sufficient for covering a 30 ECTS-point requirement. If your grade transcript does not indicate the courses' workload in ECTS-points, CBS Admissions will carry out a conversion.

Courses done at master level cannot be used.

Relevant work experience cannot make up for any missing ECTS-points either.

Keep in mind that, as well as entry requirements, each programme also has its own set of selection criteria, which are used if there are more qualified applicants than places available at the programme.

The selection process
In the selection process, you are not measured against a specific set of minimum requirements; instead, you are competing for a place against all other applicants who are also qualified, according to the selection criteria defined for each master's programme.

Selection is an overall assessment, focusing primarily on your academic achievements during the bachelor's degree (in terms of courses passed and grades obtained within certain disciplines). Your work experience may also be considered, if this is part of the programme's selection criteria.

Since the selection process never focuses solely on your grades, there is no Grade Point Average (GPA) requirement as such. It is not possible and also irrelevant to know the GPAs of the admitted applicants.

Read more about the factors considered in the selection process

You can apply for a master’s programme even if you have not yet finished your bachelor degree. However, if you are accepted to a master’s programme, you will have to document that you have finished your bachelor’s degree before you can begin studying at CBS. You will be expected to upload your final bachelor diploma and grade transcript before study start of the programme at the latest.

Read more about being conditionally accepted and how to document that you have completed your bachelor degree.

 

Do you already have a master's degree? If you already have a two-year Master’s degree, whether Danish or international, you can only be accepted to a Master's programme if there are places available. As CBS has many more applicants than study spaces, we do not expect to have any available places. Exemption You can apply for exemption from this rule if exceptional circumstances apply to your case. You must be able to document that it is not possible for you to use your previous master's degree in the labour market. The deadline for submitting an application for an exemption from the master's rule is the same as the application deadline for admission. Exemption is rarely granted. You can read more about the rules and regulations governing admission to Master's programmes in Denmark here: Adgangsbekendtgørelsen §3 (available in Danish only).

Previously passed courses at master's level If you have passed any courses at master’s level, but you have not yet finished a master's degree, prior to starting a master's programme at CBS, you must indicate this in the application form. If you are accepted to a master's programme at CBS, any courses at master’s level you have passed before study start will be assessed and may be credit transferred into your programme. The assessment takes place after you have been offered and accepted a study place at CBS, and is made by the study board of the respective master's programme.

Are you currently enrolled in another master's programme? You can only be enrolled in one full-time programme at a time in Denmark or abroad. If you are accepted to CBS and accept the study place offer, you must withdraw from any other full-time programme before 1 September, otherwise you will face legal consequences.