Admission process - general principles
To qualify for a CBS master's programme, applicants must fulfil all of the following:
A) The programme’s specific entry requirements
B) The programme’s language requirement (Danish or English at a certain level)
C) The general entry requirement of having a bachelor degree
All CBS master's programmes have a limited number of places. If there are more qualified applicants than places available at a programme, there will be a selection process, according to programme-specific selection criteria.
You can find specific entry requirements, selection criteria, and language requirements for each programme by viewing their individual admissions pages. View all CBS master's programmes.
Each master programme has their own specific entry requirements - a certain number of ECTS-points within specific areas of study. In addition, each programme has their own specific selection criteria which are used if there are more qualified applicants than places available at a programme.
The specific entry requirements are, customarily, covered by academic and research-oriented courses at bachelor level (for example, courses taken at CBS, Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen and the like).
If you have completed vocational, more practice-oriented courses (for example, courses as part of a Professional bachelor’s degree programme), the academic level of the courses and their theoretical, research foundation may not be sufficient to cover the specific entry requirements of Master’s degree programmes at CBS.
The exact number of ECTS-points stated in the specific entry requirements must be covered. For example, 29 ECTS-points are not sufficient for covering a 30 ECTS-points requirement.
If your grade transcript does not indicate the courses' workload in ECTS-points, CBS Admissions will carry out a conversion. Please find more information in the section below.
CBS uses the ECTS-point system to measure the total workload for the completion of a specific course or programme. Masters programme's entry requirements also use this measurement in the criteria we place on applicants. If your university uses a different point/credit system, CBS Admissions will evaluate on a case-by-case basis how to convert your credits to ECTS-points.
To help you try and calculate yourself, to what extent you fulfil specific entry requirements, here is some information about the ECTS-system, how points are calculated and how conversion takes place.
ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System.
The ECTS point system indicates the workload - measured in time - that it takes to complete a specific course. ECTS points do not measure the subject level or degree of difficulty, only the workload.
Calculation of points
The ECTS system equates 60 ECTS points for one year of full-time study. According to the Danish Ministry of Education and Science, 60 ECTS-points are equivalent to 1,650 hours of work. One complete year of full-time study (or 60 ECTS-points) include the students’ efforts and time for course preparation, class attendance, writing assignments and taking exams, and it may also include internships. 1 ECTS-point in Denmark is equivalent to an average student workload of approximately 27-28 hours.
Conversion to ECTS-points
A full bachelor’s degree in Denmark equals 180 ECTS-points and consists of six semesters each of 30 ECTS-points. When converting credits, CATs, total hours or other types of points to the ECTS-system, you must first identify how many units of each type are necessary to complete a full programme of study. Furthermore, you must know the prescribed length of time for completion of a bachelor’s degree in your respective educational point system.
We evaluate each individual applicant on a case-by-case basis when deciding how to convert national credits to ECTS-points.
According to the rules and regulations set out by the Ministry of Higer Education and Science in "Kandidatadgangsbekendtgørelsen" (The Master’s Decree), §2, applicants to higher education in Denmark must have a relevant bachelor education or another relevant education at the same level.
Applicants who do not fulfil this entry requirement will be assessed as a dispensee according to §5 in "Kandidatadgangsbekendtgørelsen".
"Kandidatadgangsbekendtgørelsen" (The Master’s Decree) can be found at retsinformation.dk by searching "Adgang kandidatuddannelser" in the search box called "Titel" (in Danish only).
NB: The same is true for applicants who do not fulfil the programme's language requirement.
What do we take into consideration when assessing you as a dispensee?
- The contents of the courses within the specific entry requirements
- Number of ECTS-points within the specific entry requirements
- Your motivational essay
- Documented interest for and experience in the relevant area
- The academic content of your educational background
- To some extent your grades in general
Motivational essay:
A motivational essay must be personal and specific, and it must prove that you are well informed and have put a lot of thought into your choice of education. It should explain the purpose and motivation of you choosing this particular education. You should answer questions such as:
- What can you bring to the table?
- Why do you think your educational background is relevant?
- Why do you think your work/ life experience is relevant?
- How can you compensate for the fact that you do not fulfil the general entry requirement?
Your educational background is the most important factor in our assessment, however, your life and work experience might also be considered, if they are relevant with regard to the chosen programme. Your motivational essay must not exceed two A4 pages.
ADMISSION FOR CBS BACHELOR DEGREES
Each CBS bachelor degree has a corresponding master degree which is the natural progression for it. You automatically fulfil the specific entry requirements for your natural master degree and have a legal right to be accepted to this programme if you apply for it the same year as you finish your bachelor degree.
Find more information about legal right of admission.
If your bachelor degree is from CBS, but you are interested in another master than your natural master degree, you must review the programme's entry requirements to see if you are qualified and find out what selection criteria will be used in the selection process.
Find out which CBS master degree is the natural progression for your CBS bachelor degree from the table below.
What is my natural master degree? Click to fold out table
Remember, you still must fulfil the language requirement for the programme and are not guaranteed admission to a specific concentration, even if you have legal right of admission to the programme. You can read more about this on the programmes' admission page if you choose to apply to a programme with multiple concentrations, for example MSc EBA.
Read more about the rules for applicants with a legal right of admission.
| CBS BACHELOR DEGREE | NATURAL GRADUATE PROGRAMME |
| BA EB m. engelsk | MA in International Business Communication |
| BA EB m. fransk/spansk/tysk | Optaget på EB i 2013: cand.merc.(kom.); studerende, der består min. 7½ ECTS-points inden for "economics" (fx mikro- eller makroøkonomi), får retskravslignende status på MSc BLC, dvs. at man er sikret optag Optaget på EB i 2014: MSc BLC (et valgfag a 7½ ECTS-points udskiftes med et obligatorisk fag i mikroøkonomi) Optaget på EB i 2015: MSc BLC (uddannelsens opbygning ændres) |
| BA IVK m. engelsk | MA in International Business Communication |
| BA IVK m. fransk/spansk/tysk | cand.merc.(kom.) |
| BA EOK | MA in International Business Communication |
| BA IMK | cand.merc.(kom.) |
| HA Almen | cand.merc. / MSc in Economics and Business Administration |
| HA(fil.) | MSc in Business Administration and Philosophy |
| HA(it.) | MSc in Business Administration and Information Systems |
| HA(jur.) | cand.merc.(jur.) |
| HA(kom.) | cand.merc.(kom.) |
| HA(mat.) | cand.merc.(mat.) |
| HA(psyk.) | cand.merc.(psyk.) |
| BA IM | MSc in Business Administration and Information Systems |
| BSc ASP | MSc in Business, Language and Culture |
| BSc BLC | MSc in Business, Language and Culture |
| BSc IB | MSc in Economics and Business Administration / cand.merc. |
| BSc IBP | MSc in International Business and Politics |
| Bsc SEM | MSc in Economics and Business Administration / cand.merc. |
| BSc SOC | MSc in International Business and Politics |
| HA pro. | cand.merc. / MSc in Economics and Business Administration |
|
BSc in International Shipping and Trade |
cand.merc. / MSc in Economics and Business Administration |
| HA i Europæisk Business | cand. merc. / MSc in Economics and Business Administration |
ARE YOU QUALIFIED?
You are qualified for a master programme if you fulfil all its entry requirements. Remember, this does not mean that you are guaranteed acceptance, as all CBS graduate programmes have a limited number of places.
To find out if you are qualified for a master programme, you have the following options:
- Check if we have already published an advance assessment for your bachelor degree
- Make your own self-assessment
CBS Admissions is not able to assess your qualifications or evaluate your courses in advance of our assessment.
Advance Assessment
An advance assessment is an evaluation of the obligatory courses included in the standard curricula (programme regulations) of a certain bachelor degree.
It indicates to what extent your obligatory courses fulfil the specific entry requirements for a master programme.
An advance assessment does not take into account elective courses, i.e. if you do elective courses or take supplementary courses in one or more of the required areas, the requirements will be lowered accordingly.
Advance assessments are published on the programmes' individual program admissions pages.
We make advance assessments when we experience a great number of applicants with the same bachelor degree applying for the same graduate programme. You cannot yourself request a advance assessment to be made of your bachelor degree.
We encourage you to try and establish yourself what extent you fulfil a master programme's specific entry requirements by making a self-assessment. List all the undergraduate courses you have taken or are going to take, as part of your bachelor degree or in addition to it, and compare them to the programme's specific entry requirements. You can use this form:
Self-assessment (Course Match) (PDF)
Read your course titles and descriptions carefully. Try to categorise the courses according to the master programme’s specific entry requirements.
To get an understanding of how we define the various course categories, see below under the headline, “I want to take an elective, supplementary or extra course at CBS”. Here you can see how we have assessed various CBS courses, with regard to fulfilling specific entry requirements for the CBS master programmes. Read the course titles and descriptions, and compare them with your own, to get an idea of what types of courses could fulfil the specific entry requirements.
If your university does not use ECTS-points, please see the information on the general principles concerning credit conversion higher on this page.
We encourage you to add your self-assessment to the documentation you upload when you apply for a CBS master programme. Your self-assessment is not binding for us, but it can help you prepare your application and give us a better overview of your educational background.
Becoming qualified - supplementary and elective courses
If you do not fulfil the specific entry requirements for a programme, read about your options below.
Choose the category that describes your situation:
You can consider taking supplementary courses in addition to your bachelor degree if you need to fulfil specific entry requirements for a graduate programme.
If you have completed your bachelor’s degree by the application deadline:
• You can use a maximum of 30 ECTS-points worth of supplementary courses
• You have to pay for your courses yourself
• Courses must be done at bachelor level. Courses done at master level are not able to be used.
Read the following information thoroughly about when and where you can take supplementary courses.
When can I take supplementary courses?
If you are taking, or are planning to register for, supplementary courses, make sure to document that you have registered for the courses in your application by the application deadline. Find information on how to document your registration for supplementary courses. Supplementary courses must be passed before the study start of the programme.
The following courses may be taken into consideration in the assessment:
Where can I take supplementary courses?
You may take supplementary courses at CBS or another university, as long as they are done at academic bachelor level and within the course area you are missing. CBS Admissions reserves the right to evaluate the academic level and course area of any supplementary course.
How long will my supplementary courses be valid for admission?
Supplementary courses can only be included in the given admission year if they are taken after you have received a letter of conditional acceptance (for that year).
If you have already completed your bachelor degree by the application deadline, any summer semester courses you take will not be included in our assessment if you apply again in the future.
Example: You have finished your bachelor degree in January 2019 and you apply for a graduate programme before 1 March 2019. You have already registered for a course at CBS' Summer University (ISUP) 2019. With this course, you are qualified for admission, but you are rejected during the selection process. If you decide to take the ISUP course in 2019 anyway, we will NOT be able to include the course in our assessment if you apply for admission again in 2020.
Find information about how to withdraw from ISUP courses.
The rules regarding supplementary courses are regulated by "Uddannelsesbekendtgørelsen" which can be found at retsinformation.dk by searching "Uddannelsesbekendtgørelsen" in the searchfield called "Titel" (In Danish only).
I'm graduating in Summer 2019
If you do not fulfil the specific entry requirements for a graduate programme, you have the following two options to become qualified:
- Choose your electives or exchange courses so they meet the missing specific entry requirements and/or
- Take supplementary courses to meet the missing specific entry requirements (special rules apply - see below).
Supplementary courses are courses taken in addition to your bachelor degree with the purpose of fulfilling the specific entry requirements for a graduate programme.
If you are completing your bachelor’s degree in the 2019 summer semester
• You can use a maximum of 30 ECTS-points worth of supplementary courses in total
• You have to pay for your courses yourself
• Courses must be done at bachelor level. Courses done at master level are not able to be used.
When can I take supplementary courses?
If you are taking, or are planning to register for, supplementary courses, make sure to document that you have registered for the courses in your application by the application deadline. Find information on how to document your registration for supplementary courses. Supplementary courses must be passed before the study start of the programme.
The following courses may be taken into consideration in the assessment:
Where can I take supplementary courses?
You may take supplementary courses at CBS, or another university, as long as they are at an academic bachelor level and within the course area that you are missing. CBS reserves the right to evaluate the academic level and course area of any supplementary course.
The rules regarding supplementary courses are regulated by "Uddannelsesbekendtgørelsen" which can be found at retsinformation.dk by searching "Uddannelsesbekendtgørelsen" in the searchfield called "Titel" (in Danish only).
I want to take an elective, supplementary or extra course at CBS
If you want to take electives, supplementary courses or extra courses at CBS, you have the following options:
- Elective or single courses offered during the semester
- International Summer University Programme (ISUP)
Be sure to note the difference between supplementary courses and extra courses:
Supplementary courses are courses taken in addition to your bachelor degree, with the purpose of fulfilling the specific entry requirements for a graduate programme. There are specific rules about when you may take a supplementary course in order for it to be included in our assessment, so please read thoroughly the section above. Supplementary courses must be completed and documented before study start.
Extra courses are courses you take, in addition to fulfilling a programme's specific entry requirements. These may be taken to try and add to your qualifications in an area mentioned in the selection criteria. Extra courses must be documented and passed before the application deadline.
On the websites listed above, you can find which bachelor level courses are offered and which course areas they can cover with regard to the specific entry requirements for our graduate programmes. You can also find information about application, course entry requirements and fees (if any), schedules, etc.
Improving your chances
Being qualified does not mean you are guaranteed acceptance at the programme since all CBS graduate programmes have a limited number of places. If there are more qualified applicants than places available, a selection process takes place. Each programme has their own selection criteria which you can read about on the individual programmes' admission pages. You can view all available masters programmes and their entry requirements here.
To improve your chances of being selected for admission, you can choose electives during your bachelor or take extra courses that add to your qualifications within the areas mentioned in the selection criteria.
You can take extra courses at CBS, or any university, as long as they are done at academic, research-based bachelor level and are relevant for the selection criteria. Remember, CBS Admissions reserves the right to assess if a course is relevant and will be used.
Extra courses must be documented and passed before the application deadline.
If you intend to take extra courses at CBS, you can read more about it in the above section.
Notification - admission 2018
From the 2018 admission round and onwards, part of the selection criteria for all CBS' graduate programmes will be whether or not you already have obtained a Danish Master’s degree. Applicants with a completed Danish Master’s degree are only allowed to enrol in a new degree programme in certain circumstances (See “rules and exemptions” under Your application), and this aspect of your academic background can be disadvantageous, even if you are one of the exceptions to the rule.