By Katrine Krogh-Jeppesen
DTU’s 38 study programmes have once again seen an increase in the number of admissions. 2,426 new students have been offered a place on one of DTU’s study programmes, compared to 2,340 last year—an overall increase of 4 per cent. A total of 33 per cent of these places have been offered to female students, the highest percentage ever experienced by DTU.
This year, a total of 1,367 and 1,073 were offered a place on one of DTU’s 38 BSc programmes and BEng programmes, respectively.
This pleases Lars D. Christoffersen, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs at DTU, who experiences a massive demand for more engineers from the business sector—engineers who can solve the challenges facing society in fields such as health technology, IT, and climate:
“Our graduates are in high demand in the business sector, and it is therefore positive to see that our study programmes still attract so many students. Once again, we have managed to make room for even more applicants. However, some of our study programmes are more popular than others and receive a lot of applications, and we therefore unfortunately have to reject many of them. In the long term, we hope to increase the intake on these programmes to allow more young people to be admitted to their first-priority programme,” says Lars D. Christoffersen.
"The proportion of female students being admitted to DTU has never been higher than now. And we are very pleased with this development. The efforts we have made over the past many years now seem to produce the desired results."
Lars D. Christoffersen, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs
Three of the very popular study programmes are Artificial Intelligence and Data, Design of Sustainable Energy Systems, and Biomedical Engineering.
Long-term focus on increasing the number of female students
The number of female students admitted to DTU has increased. In 2019, the proportion of women admitted to BSc programmes is 37 per cent, up from 33 percent in 2016. The BEng programmes also experience an increase in female students, and the overall picture shows that the proportion of women admitted is 33 per cent.
“The proportion of female students being admitted to DTU has never been higher than it is now. And we are very pleased with this development. The efforts we have made for several years now seem to produce the desired results, but we are aware that the idea of the engineering profession as a ’male’ profession can’t be changed overnight. But we are simply missing out on essential talent if we fail to attract more female students to our STEM programmes,” explains Lars D. Christoffersen.
Today, several initiatives—both national and international—are aimed at attracting female students to STEM programmes. DTU itself is part of Engineer The Future, which works to generally attract young people to engineering study programmes across Danish universities. At DTU, we have furthermore taken the initiative to arrange special IT camps for girls as well as IT mentoring programmes for female high school students. DTU also participates in the annual initiative Girls’ Day in Science.
Full house on the BSc Eng programme
Apart from a few vacant places on the Physics and Nanotechnology programme, all places have been filled on the BSc Eng programme this year.
A total of 1,367 young people have been offered a place on one of DTU’s BSc Eng programmes after the summer holidays, an increase of 5 per cent compared to 2018.
The increase is due in particular to the two most recent BSc programmes, Design of Sustainable Energy Systems and Artificial Intelligence and Data, which together have created 35 additional places. But also the in the increase in places on the Chemistry and Technology and Mathematics and Technology programmes has made it possible for even more young people to study engineering in Denmark.
The grade point average has increased for eight of DTU’s BSc Eng programmes—and is above 9.0 also on eight programmes. Artificial Intelligence and Data is the clear lead this year with a 10.9 grade point average. Medicine and Technology and Design of Sustainable Energy Systems also have high grade point averages of 9.8 and 9.5, respectively.
Few vacant places on the BEng programmes
This year, DTU has offered 1,073 young people a place on the BEng programmes, an increase of 2 per cent compared to 2018. This year, the Software Technology and Architectural Engineering programmes were the most popular with grade point averages of 8.3 and 7.8, respectively.
The increase in admissions to the BEng programme is mainly due to an increase in student places offered on the two BEng programmes Architectural Engineering and Process and Innovation. The number of student places was increased after the deadline on 5 July in order to accommodate the large number of applications for these two programmes in particular.
There are still vacant places on five of DTU’s BEng programmes: Arctic Technology, Fisheries Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Energy Technology, and Mobility, Transport, and Logistics.
A BEng programme in Fisheries Technology is offered by DTU for the first time this year. Despite the late approval of the study programme, four young people have been offered a place this year.
Vacant places after 26 July
From Friday 26 July 2019, it is possible to apply for these places via dtu.dk. 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, 23 August for a general introduction and will be more broadly introduced to life as a student of engineering during the freshers’ trips. The start of the semester and the first day of class for all new DTU students is Monday, 2 September.
Photo: Mikal Schlosser