UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN DENMARK IN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA

Halyna Kalinicheva,

Ph.D. (History), Associate Professor,

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2524-048X.2025.32.7

 

Abstract. Denmark’s leading positions in the socio-economic sphere, education, science, development of civil society and democratic traditions, university autonomy and social responsibility of universities make it relevant to study the national specificity of the Danish model of university education. The experience of modernization measures in Denmark in the field of higher education at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries is of scientific interest from a historical, political and educational point of view.

The aim of the article is to highlight the theoretical discourse and analyze the main stages and content of modernization measures in the Danish university education system as a component of the European higher education space.

The research methodology is based on an interdisciplinary approach, the principles of historicity, systematicity, determinism, objectivity, humanism, the development and use of diachronic and systemic analytical methods.

The scientific novelty lies in highlighting the discourse in foreign historiography on the impact of global trends in higher education on the Danish higher education system. The author points to the socio-economic and political determinants of modernization measures in the Danish higher education system at the end of the 20th and in the 21st century, focusing on the institutional reform of university education in the context of joining the European educational space. It is indicated that during the 1990s the modern structure of university education in Denmark was created thanks to reform measures aimed at adjusting the existing Danish structure of higher education and creating competition between higher education institutions for students. At the beginning of the 21st century, Denmark introduced one of the most ambitious and far-reaching university reforms: the transformation of the university community from the status of civil servants to employees of autonomous self-governing institutions. It is emphasized that the most important reforms of the 2000s related to university management had both their advantages and unused reserves, problems and challenges. The result of the reform of higher education at the beginning of the 21st century was the creation of universities as property entities with contractual relations with the central administration. The author singles out reforms in the Danish higher education system related to the widespread introduction of ICT, which was given political, economic and strategic importance.

Conclusions. The author summarizes that a number of reform measures in the higher education system in the context of Denmark’s entry into the European higher education space are the result of a scientifically based state strategy aimed at ensuring the competitiveness of the Danish education system. The successful combination of long-term state management and regulation with granting the university community the right to self-organization and self-government gave impetus to public initiative, entrepreneurship, innovation, scientific research and social responsibility of universities.

Keywords: higher education in Denmark, reform, European Higher Education Area, competitiveness, university autonomy, social responsibility.

Submitted 05.09.2025

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