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CHEMISTRY

Master's Degree Programme

About the programme
Language: English  (See language requirements)  | Place of study: Aarhus  |  Commencement: August / September and January / February (only applicants with a Danish Bachelor's degree)

Introduction

The Department of Chemistry offers a two-year MSc in Chemistry taught in English. The degree programme is open to students with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from universities and teaching institutions in Denmark and abroad.

As a student in the Chemistry programme, you will acquire general competencies in chemistry, while specialising in a particular subject area. For example, you can specialise within environmental and atmospheric chemistry; development of new energy materials for the production of green energy; determination of biomolecules and structure of materials with NMR and X-ray techniques; computer simulations and development of new theoretical models for calculations of molecule properties; and much more.

Career profile

Graduates from the Department of Chemistry find work in a wide range of fields and institutions. Most jobs are within research, development, teaching, communications or consultancy in the public or private sectors, particularly in chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Chemists employed in the chemical industry typically perform a wide range of functions. For example, developing new products, analysing chemical reactions in order to improve them or having responsibility for supervising production to prevent the occurrence of errors.

Admission requirements

The following Bachelor’s degrees qualify students for admission to the Master’s degree programme in Chemistry:

  • A Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Aarhus University, University of Southern Denmark or University of Copenhagen
  • A Bachelor of Science degree in Medicinal Chemistry from Aarhus University
  • A Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Aarhus University
  • A Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Technology from Technical University of Denmark.    
  • A Bachelor of Science degree in Nanoscience from Aarhus University.

Other qualifications can provide admission to the Master’s degree programme, provided the university assesses that their level, extent and content correspond to the degrees mentioned above.

In the assesment of whether a bachelor degree qualifies for admission to the MSc in Chemistry,  Aarhus University considers the following to be important:

  • The bachelors degree program should include at least 60 ECTS distributed among the following topics:
    • 15 ECTS inorganic chemistry (including electron structure, reactivity and properties of the elements as well as the strcture, bonding properties and phase diagrams of inorganic materials).
    • 20 ECTS organic chemistry (including functional groups, reaction mechanisms, named reaction types).
    • 15 ECTS physical/theoretical chemistry (including thermodynamics, kinetics, chemical bonds, quantum chemistry).
    • 10 ECTS structural chemistry (including spectroscopy, mass-spectrometry, chromatography and x-ray diffraction).

Upon admission, further requirements regarding composition of the degree programme may be stipulated.

Language Requirements

Since English is the language of instruction in all courses, all applicants are required to provide evidence of their English language proficiency. 

Read how to document your language qualifications

Documentation
Please see the general admission requirements.

Legal right of admission
Students with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry at Aarhus University have the right to be admitted to the Master's degree programme in Chemistry on the condition that application is made for admission to the Master’s degree programme no later than three years after completion of the Bachelor’s degree programme. The legal right of admission requires receipt of the application by Aarhus University within the appropriate period of time.

Selection criteria

As the Master’s programme only admits a limited number of students each year, meeting the admission requirements does not in itself guarantee admission to the programme. Allocation of student places is based on an overall assessment. In evaluating qualified applicants, the admissions committee assesses applicants on the basis of the following criteria:

Academic background

    Overall grade level – Bachelor’s degree
  • Grades achieved on relevant courses*
  • Relevant courses* (measured in credit units) included in your Bachelor’s degree

* Relevant courses include core courses within the subject areas of Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics.

Please note that grades obtained after the time of application cannot be included in the assessment of grade level.

The admissions committee assess each applicant on the basis of the information provided in diplomas, transcripts and course descriptions.

Programme structure

The Master’s degree in Chemistry counts as 120 ECTS credits and mainly consists of subjects within the chemistry fields of study. You specialise by participating in course activities and projects and by writing a thesis. This thesis, completed during the final year of the programme, carries considerable weight.

It is also possible to do projects with private companies or public institutions.

Individual programme

During the beginning of your studies, you structure your own individual study programme with the help of a supervisor from a research group at the Department of Chemistry. Your programme is based on your academic qualifications and interests and the subjects you studied during your Bachelor’s degree.

You will also join the research group where your supervisor is located. This allows for high-level sparring as well as contributing to the group's research.

For more information about the individual courses, go to kursuskatalog.au.dk/en.

Academic Regulations

Forms of teaching

At both the Department of Chemistry and Aarhus University, the lecturers are active researchers, which means that you are presented with the newest research. You are also in close contact with the lecturers/researchers in a way that you rarely experience at other universities. The doors to the professors’ offices are always open if you need clarification of the study material, and you are encouraged to ask questions at lectures and during exercises. For our programme, there are heavy demands to your academic skills and independence. In return, however, you gain considerable benefits in the form of academic challenges and scientific knowledge, in addition to broad competences.

The teaching at the university focuses on independence, critical thinking and collaboration. Part of the teaching is in the form of lectures that introduce new angles to the material compared with the textbooks. The theoretical and practical exercises take place in smaller groups where you study relevant issues in depth. Depending on your choice of specialisation, your main forms of study and work involve laboratory work and the use of advanced experimental equipment, such as NMR and X-ray methodologies and computer modelling. The varied forms of teaching, collaboration in groups and the opportunity for close scientific dialogue with the researchers provide you with general competences that are in great demand in the global job market. These competences include abstract, critical and independent thinking, analytical skills and strategic planning. You can use these skills in many contexts – even in jobs you didn’t know you were qualified for.

The teaching is divided into two semesters per year. Learn more about the semester dates here.

PhD programme

If you are interested and have the necessary skills, you have the option of applying
for admission to the PhD programme. You can apply when you have completed your
Bachelor’s degree and one year of your Master’s degree, or when you have completed your Master’s degree. In the PhD programme, you start working on a research project and are gradually trained through courses and personal guidance to become a researcher.

For more information, go to phd.nat.au.dk.

Student life

There is more to life as a Chemistry student than lectures and courses. The versatile and inspiring student life at the Department of Chemistry is centred around a vibrant student life. The department has four student associations: @lkymia, AMOK, Kemishow and TKM.

@lkymia organise four to five parties each year and also run the Friday bar each Friday. AMOK is the students’ career association. They plan company visits and inspiring talks by industry people. Kemishow do visual experiments at elementary schools and high schools to inspire children and teenagers to explore the world of chemistry. TKM runs the introduction week and accompanying trip for new Bachelor’s students.
At the department, you can also become a student member of the teaching committee. These members have an influence on the department's teaching, e.g. for the Master's programme.

Campus – a unique place

Aarhus University is a unique place, located just 15 minutes from the city centre. The main campus – better known as the University Park – consists of big lawns and a small lake; a beautiful area well-suited for walks, studying or drinking a beer. The park is also known for its yellow brick buildings, where most of the university’s faculties and departments are located. You also find student accommodation, canteens, the main university library, auditoriums and a host of activities ranging from sports days to the regatta on the lake, interesting lectures, a film club and university celebrations. Furthermore, the campus ensures that you have easy access to student counsellors, supervisors, the bookshop, the Friday bars and much more.

Aarhus as a study centre

The forty thousand students in Aarhus make up 17.5% of the population, which leaves its mark on city life. Aarhus is a young, dynamic city with plenty of opportunities.

However, the university is not all Aarhus has to offer. As the second-largest city in Denmark, Aarhus also has numerous different cultural activities. The well-known Aarhus Festival is celebrated annually for a week at the beginning of September, which sees the city showing its full colours. During the rest of the year, you can visit different music venues and concert halls in the city or find entertainment at one of the many theatres, cinemas and sport venues. The city’s many museums include ARoS – the major international art museum, which is a spectacular place for visual experiences. If you have had enough of cultural activities, you can ride your bike to the beach in no time or go for walks in the Risskov woods or in the beautiful woods around Marselisborg. If you like sports, there are also many sports associations in the city offering weekly training sessions (football, handball, tennis, badminton, etc.).

Follow the student life at the Department of Chemistry

You can follow the department and its students on Facebook and Instagram, as well as on our hashtag #GodKemi.

Here, we collect pictures from students and the department, so you can follow what happens in and around our programme.

Follow the student life at Aarhus University

-experienced, photographed and filmed by the students themselves.

With thousands of pictures #AUInternational, #AarhusUni gives insight into the everyday life as a student at AU; the parties, procrastination, exams and all the other ways you’ll spend your time at university.

The photos belong to the users, shared with #AUInternational and #AarhusUni.

Career

Job functions for grads

The chart shows the five most common types of work for graduates 1-2 years after finishing their degree. The data is derived from a survey made by Epinion for the Ministry of Higher Education and Science and Aarhus University in 2020.