Prerequisite studies for the master's programmes

What are prerequisite studies?

The university may require you to complete prerequisite studies in the form of one or more study activities at bachelor level if we assess that your bachelor's programme is relevant to the master's programme you have applied for, but that you lack some essential qualifications.

If you can meet the requirements by taking up to 30 ECTS of prerequisite studies, you may be offered a place on that master's programme at Roskilde University. The prerequisite courses are at bachelor level and are offered as courses that you can take during the summer or in the course of a whole semester. Once you have passed the prerequisite studies, you are guaranteed a place on the relevant programme.

Only some of RUC's master's programs offer prerequisite studies. You can see under each programmes admission requirements if that programme offers prerequisite studies.

The prerequisite studies must be completed before you can start on the master's programme.

You can either be offered summer prerequisite studies or semester prerequisite studies. You cannot decide for yourself what type of prerequisite studies you want to take. It is the university that decides.

Summer prerequisite studies are courses targeted at applicants who lack specific qualifications, e.g. if you hold a professional bachelor’s degree. You must follow the courses in July and August. Summer prerequisite studies are 10 ECTS.

See under each programme’s admission requirements if that programme offers summer prerequisite studies.

Semester prerequisite studies are courses and / or projects that are taken over an entire semester before you start the master's program. It can be anything from 1-30 ECTS points. There are two programmes that offer semester prerequisite studies in the 2025 Spring semester:

Global and Development Studies (English language programme)
Politik & Forvaltning (Danish language programme)

From the autumn semester 2025 the two programmes only offer summer prerequisite studies.

Payment for prerequisite studies

All students (non-EU/EEA, EU/EEA, Swiss and Danish citizens) must pay tuition fees for the prerequisite studies. The fees corresponds to the tuition fees for guest students:

Tuition fees for EU and EAA guest students

You are not entitled to receive Student Grant (SU) while you are completing prerequisite studies.

Can you be admitted with prerequisite studies, regardless of which bachelor's degree you have?

No. You will not be offered admission conditional on prerequisite studies if:

The master's program does not offer (relevant) prerequisite studies,
You lack essential qualifications to meet the admission requirements that cannot be achieved by the prerequisite studies on offer or
You are a non-EU/EEA citizen that needs a residence permit based on studies, as you will not be able to get a residence permit based on these types of studies.

If I am required to complete prerequisite studies, can I select another priority?

No you cannot. If you have applied for admission to more than one master’s programme and are offered conditional admission to a master’s programme with the requirement of completing prerequisite studies first, you cannot change to a lower priority. You will only receive an offer to the highest priority where you can qualify for admission—even if you might have been able to be admitted to a lower priority without the requirement of prerequisite studies.

Since the requirement of prerequisite studies is based on an individual assessment of your educational background once we have received the application, we can unfortunately not inform you beforehand, if you will be required to complete prerequisite studies for a specific master’s programme.