Anthropology is about the social life of people, about cultures and societies all over the world. When you study a master's degree in anthropology, you will be trained to find new perspectives on what is often taken for granted and why people act the way they do.
To apply for admission to the master's programme, you must be enrolled in or have completed either a qualifying bachelor's programme or another relevant Danish or foreign degree programme which the admission board asess fulfil the adacemic requirements.
You apply for admission through the application portal.
Below you can read more about the admission requirements for the programme including which documents you must upload along with your application.
You must meet a number of admission requirements, to apply for the master’s programme. We do not offer pre-assessment of your educational background.
You can read about the various admission requirements below:
You have legal right of admission, if you hold a bachelor’s degree in:
As an applicant with legal right of admission, you are guaranteed a place if you apply by the deadline. You can wait up to three years to exercise your legal right of admission from the time you complete your bachelor’s degree until you start your master’s degree.
If you hold a bachelor’s degree, a professional bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualification from a Danish or international university not listed above, you are eligible for admission if they are able to demonstrate knowledge, expertise and skills corresponding to the bachelor programme in Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. The assessment includes the following requirements:
Admission to the master’s programme in Anthropology is subject to restriction.
You must also meet the language requirements for English B.
If you have a legal right of admission to a master’s programme, you must upload the following documents with your application:
If your have another Danish or international degree, you must upload the following documents with your application:
Application deadline for Danish applicants and applicants from within the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Open for applications from 16 January. You will receive a reply by 15 May.
Application deadline for applicants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland.
Open for applications from 15 November. You will receive a reply by 13 March.
Find information about available places on the study programme, as well as the distribution of students admitted last year.
| Admission statistics Anthropology (English) 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Available study places | 15* |
| Admission statistics Anthropology (Danish) 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Available study places | 59* |
| Admission statistics Anthropology (English) 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Admitted (of which have start in February) | 15 (0) |
| Admission distribution (legal right/other) | 0% / 100% |
| Applicants | 78 |
| Age average | 24 |
| Nationality (dk/international) | 7% / 93% |
| Admission statistics Anthropology (Danish) 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Admitted (of which have start in February) | 59 (0) |
| Admission distribution (legal right/other) | 90% / 10% |
| Applicants | 138 |
| Age average | 26 |
| Nationality (dk/international) | 100% / 0% |
* The student intake for the programme is capped. The number of available places applies to the academic year 2026/27.
Read about capping of study programmes in relation to available study places (in Danish)
If the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of available places, applicants will be prioritised according to the following criteria:
The documentation requirements depend on your applicant category. Select the category below that applies to you and find out what documents you need and how to apply for admission.
Starting in 2028, you can apply for focused 1-year master’s degrees, 2-year master’s degrees, and several new types of degrees for working professionals, combining study and relevant work.
The new master’s opportunities are relevant for you if you wish to apply for a master’s degree from 2028.
Your bachelor’s degree is the basis for assessing if you meet the admission requirements for the master’s degree.
In the curriculum you can see how many ECTS credits from other courses can be included in addition to your bachelor’s degree. These courses must be completed before you complete the bachelor’s degree. Courses completed between your bachelor’s and master’s degree cannot be included in the assessment.
Regrettably, the University of Copenhagen does not offer pre-assessment of your educational background to determine whether you qualify for admission.
The assessment process only begins once we have received your application. You can prepare by comparing your courses with the admission requirements.
If you are a citizen of a country outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, you must pay the application deposit and tuition fee.
If you want to apply for admission to a master’s degree or to apply for re-admission, study change, transfer, or re-enrolment at the University of Copenhagen, you must apply through the application portal.
Once you have submitted your application, you can follow the application in the application portal.
See the guide to the application portal
Read more about applying for re-admission, study change, transfer, and re-enrolment
The MSc in Anthropology from the University of Copenhagen is a two-year full-time programme, which consists of a number of courses, fieldwork and a master’s thesis.
You can read about the contents of the courses in the curriculum found at the bottom.
You can choose between a general profile and specializations. The general anthropological profile looks like this:
| Semester 1 | Semester 2 |
|---|---|
| Analytical Approaches (15 ECTS) | Anthropological Project Design (15 ECTS) |
| Optional anthropological courses (2 x 7,5 ECTS) | Optional courses (2 x 7,5 ECTS credits) |
| Semester 3 | Semester 4 |
|---|---|
| Fieldwork: Ethnography and Analysis (30 ECTS) | Master's thesis (30 ECTS) |
The first semester consists of the course Anthropological Approaches and two elective courses.
The course provides an overview of a wide range of anthropological themes and issues as well as relevant analytical methods for researching them. During the course, you will reflect on your ideas for field work and how your project takes shape in the light of various anthropological analyses.
The second semester consists of the course Anthropological Project Design and two elective courses.
On the course Anthropological Project Design, you prepare for the field work. The purpose of the course is to learn about the importance of regional context and overall thematic topics. In addition, you are trained in ethnographic methods and the ability to combine methodology and theory in the creation of a project design.
You have 30 ECTS electives on your master’s programme. 15 out of the 30 ECTS for electives must be anthropology courses.
In the third semester of the master’s programme, you will do your planned field work. The field work can be done in all types of communities and lasts a maximum of 14 weeks. This can be done as an independent project or as a collaboration with a organisation or company.
Students can do the field work either independently or together with a fellow student. The key requirement is that your data must be collected using anthropological methods such as interviews and participant observation.
In the last part of the semester, you must participate in a number of analysis workshops which will help you start analysing your empirical data. Here, students are helped to gain an overview of the material they collect and link it to the upcoming master's thesis process.
The MSc programme concludes with a thesis that demonstrates the students' ability to work independently and academically on an issue in an anthropological subject area. The thesis must also demonstrate theoretical understanding and familiarity with the subject's methodology and forms of analysis.
The Department of Anthropology has four different thesis models you can choose between:
Students choose elective subjects totalling 30 ECTS. Of these, a maximum of 15 ECTS may be made up of free electives and at least 15 of anthropology electives. If you want to take an academic internship, all 15 ECTS for elective subjects must be used for this. Students' plans, in which order to take the elective subjects.
The report can be used for:
Minimum 15 ECTS must be selected with anthropology electives. Anthropology elective can be taken as:
Anthropological self-study (7.5 ECTS, which may only be taken twice)
With a specialisation in Anthropology of Health you study how human beings’ efforts to secure health and treat illness are shaped by and contingent on local, national, and international institutions and political processes.
With a specialisation in Business & Organisational Anthropology, you study business activities and life in organisations using anthropological methods and theory.
If you are more interested in the academic content, regulations, and examination requirements, you should consult the curriculum, which serves as the legal foundation for the programme.
There is both a curriculum specific to each degree programme and a general curriculum that applies across the faculty.
Please note that curricula are often revised annually. Any new versions will be published no later than during the spring semester.
Upon completion of the master’s programme, you will obtain the title Master of Science in Anthropology.
The MSc programme provides students with knowledge about Anthropological theories within the context of the history of anthropology and scientific theory. Furthermore, it addresses the theories' potential practical applications in empirical research. In addition, the MSc programme covers Anthropological methodology, with a particular focus on the ability to adopt critical and reflective positions on the ethical and academic implications of the methodological choices within a field of study.
Students may select specific regional and/or thematic courses that provide in-depth knowledge of Anthropological fields of research, the ethnography of particular regions and regional issues.
The coursework is designed to ensure that students gain in-depth knowledge of Anthropological project planning, with particular focus on Anthropological fieldwork that will form the basis for his/her master's thesis. Particular emphasis is placed upon acquiring ethnographic knowledge about the specific area in which the fieldwork takes place, selecting relevant methodology and gaining theoretical insight related to the thesis.
The anthropological labour market is very dynamic and anthropologists are constantly breaking new ground.
Research and teaching are still important areas of employment, but today the vast majority of anthropologists are employed outside of universities.
The public sector (municipalities, regions, the state and international bodies) has absorbed many anthropologists for both operational and development tasks, but the private labour market is growing rapidly. Here, it is not least the consulting industry and self-employed entrepreneurs who employ anthropologists.
If you look at it thematically, these areas are currently the most important:
With a Master's degree in Anthropology, you will have the following competences:
As a student at the Department of Anthropology, you can participate in a great variety of student activities.
You can:
There are also several events for International students each semester. The events are arranged at different levels – some are for International students at the Department of Anthropology, some are for International students at the Faculty of Social Science and some are for all International students at the University of Copenhagen.
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Find out where you can live, get more information about student grants (SU), student jobs, student discounts, and all the many other things that are part of student life.
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At City Campus, you will find degree programmes within social sciences, health sciences, and natural sciences.
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