Dramatic shake-up for Danish-language tuition in Copenhagen

Clavis and UCplus have won the tender for the contract to supply municipal Danish classes in the capital

Stephen Gadd

Mar 7, 2018

From August, two language schools will be the sole providers of subsidised Danish language classes in Copenhagen Municipality.

Subject to the almost certain approval of a bill by Parliament, Danish language tuition for adult foreigners in Copenhagen will soon undergo a fundamental change.

A new broom
Danish lessons are currently free of charge and heavily subsidised. But last year the government decided to change the way in which municipalities were reimbursed from a ‘per person’ amount to a block grant, which dramatically raised their costs.

Copenhagen, with an estimated 12,000 students a year, was the hardest hit, so it put the contract for teaching the foreigners (everyone except refugees) out to tender in order to attract a lower price.

Tenders were requested in November and the results of the bidding process were announced on March 6.

Winners and losers
From August 1, only Clavis and UCplus will be offering municipal classes and, as a result, a number of their competitors have had to switch to going completely private.

As part of the government’s new tax agreement, the classes offered by Clavis and UCplus will no longer be free to participants, but they will be heavily subsidised – an estimated 75 percent of the cost. Each module will cost 2,000 kroner, which means the entire six modules of the course will cost a total of 12,000 kroner.

Among the companies weighing up its options is Studieskolen, which today released a statement regarding its future in which it suggested that group classes would no longer be its core business.