Master's Degree Programme
| About the programme Language: English (See language requirements) | Place of study: Aarhus | Commencement: August / September (See if this programme also offers a January/February start for international applicants). |
The two-year Master’s degree programme in Medicinal Chemistry focuses on the interface between chemistry and health sciences. Throughout the programme, you will engage in the design and synthesis of novel, potential pharmaceutical compounds. Possible areas of specialisation include the role of modern computational chemistry in drug design, synthesis and analysis of new compounds, structure and pharmacological properties of membrane proteins, or microscopic composition of bones and other bioinorganic materials. You may also work with protein modelling and their interactions with drugs, drug delivery, or chemical biology.
With a Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry, you can work with the development and production of new drugs in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. You may also contribute to the development of new clinical and chemical diagnostic methods within the healthcare sector. The competencies you acquire during the programme are also in demand in other sectors, such as the food industry and other areas where chemical knowledge plays a central role. You will also be qualified to communicate your knowledge of chemistry and to teach at upper secondary schools or higher education institutions.
You may also choose to continue within the world of research by pursuing a PhD programme. Read more about PhD studies at phd.nat.au.dk.
In this section you can learn more about the admission requirements relevant to the master's degree programme in Medicinal Chemistry. Depending on your educational background and your qualifications, there are different ways to meet the admission requirements:
This section is relevant for you, if you have:
The two sections listed below are relevant only for students with a bachelor's degree from a Danish institution:
Below these sections, you can learn more about the English language requirement. You can also find out which ranking criteria we use to assess your application when prioritizing among the submitted applications.
If you have an international educational background, you must meet both the general admission requirement and the specific admission requirements:
You must have a bachelor's degree or equivalent that is comparable to a Danish bachelor's degree in both level and duration (180 ECTS).
For more information about how your bachelor's degree is assessed, please see the national database.
If you meet the general admission requirement, the university will continue on to assess whether or not you meet the specific admission requirements.
You can be admitted to the master's programme if the university assesses that your education has a level, scope, and content that corresponds to the academic requirements specified below.
| Subject area | Number of ECTS |
Inorganic chemistry The following subject areas must be covered:
| 10 |
Organic chemistry The following subject areas must be covered:
| 20 |
Physical/theoretical chemistry The following subject areas must be covered:
| 10 |
Structural chemistry The following subject areas must be covered:
| 10 |
| Molecular biology | 10 |
| Total | 60 |
We cannot assess in advance whether your specific degree will meet the above requirements. Therefore, we recommend that you apply for the programme if you believe that you meet the academic requirements. In this regard, it is a good idea to compare your degree with the programmes that provide direct admission.
The following Bachelor's degree programme(s) from Aarhus University entitles you to an offer of admission to the Master's degree programme in Medicinal Chemistry:
Bachelor's degree programme in Medicinal Chemistry from Aarhus University
Please note that you must apply for admission to the Master's degree programme within three years of completing your Bachelor's degree programme.
Learn more about Legal right of admission.
Certain Bachelor's degree programmes from Aarhus University and various other Danish Universities have been determined to meet the admission requirements to this Master's degree programme in Medicinal Chemistry:
If you hold a Bachelor’s degree from a non-Danish university, you must complete the appendix below and upload it to the application portal. The appendix helps the academic assessors with the assessment of your application.
Download appendix
All Master’s degree programmes at Aarhus University have limited intake. This means that you are not guaranteed admission even if you meet the entry requirements. When we prioritize among applicants, we assess your application based on a set of fixed ranking criteria, which you can see below.
If you have a legal right of admission, you are guaranteed a place in the programme and do not need to consider the ranking criteria.
Ranking criteria:
Grades from the qualifying degree
Grades achieved in relevant subject fields:
Medicinal Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
Statistics
Relevant subject fields (measured in ECTS). In this assessment, ECTS credits that are a part of the admission requirements described under ‘Other qualifying degrees’ are not included.
Medicinal Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
Statistics
In criterion three, the score is based on the proportion of subjects on the bachelor’s degree diploma that fall within the relevant subject fields. In this assessment, ECTS credits that are a part of the admission requirements described under ‘Other qualifying degrees’ are not included.
Please note that grades achieved after the application deadline are not included in the assessment.
From the summer admission of 2027, the ranking criteria will be as follows:
Ranking criteria:
Grades from the qualifying degree
Grades achieved in relevant subject fields:
Medicinal Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
Relevant subject fields (measured in ECTS). In this assessment, ECTS credits that are a part of the admission requirements described under ‘Other qualifying degrees’ are not included.
Medicinal Chemistry
Mathematics
Physics
In criterion three, the score is based on the proportion of subjects on the bachelor’s degree diploma that fall within the relevant subject fields. In this assessment, ECTS credits that are a part of the admission requirements described under ‘Other qualifying degrees’ are not included.
Please note that grades achieved after the application deadline are not included in the assessment.
In order to be admitted to this programme you must meet the university's English language requirements.
Students with bachelor's degree from Aarhus University with a so-called 'Legal right of admission' are exempt from the English language requirement.
Unfortunately, Aarhus University is not able to assess your qualifications beforehand. In order for your qualifications to be assessed you must apply for admission. To learn more, please go to Assessment of your qualifications.
The Master’s degree in Medicinal 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.
You have considerable influence on how to structure your Master’s degree. You design and plan your individual study plan, including courses and your Master’s thesis project, based on your academic background and interests.
You can read more about the specialisation options on the study portal for Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry.
The academic regulations provide detailed information about the content of each course. You can also find an overview of the structure of the degree programme and the requirements you must meet as a student – including examination types and assessment criteria.
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.
As a student of Medicinal Chemistry, you will become part of an active and welcoming study environment with a strong sense of community. You can take part in academic activities such as study cafés, where you can work on assignments and receive peer feedback, as well as a variety of social and professional events. You can, for example, join the student association @lkymia, which organises Friday bars and parties, or the Tutor Association (TKM), which is responsible for welcoming new bachelor students at the start of the academic year. There are also opportunities for student jobs related to science communication. You can become part of Kemishow, which uses everyday chemicals to perform spectacular and entertaining experiments, or join Besøgsservice, where you help organise visits from high school classes to the department and share your enthusiasm for chemistry and student life at Aarhus University.
You can follow the department and our students on Facebook and Instagram.
In Aarhus, almost one in five residents is a student – making it a vibrant city full of young people and opportunities tailored to student life.
When you start your studies in Aarhus, you don’t have to worry about finding a place to live. The city offers a housing guarantee for new students who are moving to Aarhus to begin their studies. The guarantee applies to all newly admitted students starting a degree programme in the autumn semester and ensures that you will be offered a dorm room or student apartment either before or shortly after the start of the semester.
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Josefine Hammer Jakobsen, Master's degree student at Medicinal Chemistry
When I applied to Medicinal Chemistry, it was due to my strong interest in both chemistry and the human body. Similar programmes are also available in Copenhagen, but I chose Aarhus University, because I had heard good things about life as a student in Aarhus.
Furthermore, Aarhus University is the only place in Denmark, where I could do both a Bachelor’s and Master's degree in Medicinal Chemistry.
At Medicinal Chemistry the teaching consist of both lectures, theoretical exercises and laboratory work. This combination of different teaching methods has made it easier for me to understand and remember the material. The theoretical exercises were a good opportunity to form a study group with some of my classmates, where we could help each other with the assignments and discuss a lot of chemistry.
There are also many social activities, among other things parties organised by one of the student associations at the department. These parties give you the opportunity to talk to students from different classes as well as getting to know your own classmates better. Participation in social activities - whether it is a party at the department, game night with my classmates, or going to the cinema with my study group -has made the academic activities more fun for me during my years as a student.
When writing my Bachelor's project, I got a supervisor and got to be part of a research group, which meant that I felt like part of the research environment at the department. Being part of a research group gives you the opportunity to learn a lot of chemistry from both older students and from your supervisor. During the programme, there are both the Bachelor's project, chemistry projects and the Master's thesis, which provide the opportunity to immerse yourself in a field of study that you find particularly interesting. I think it has been exciting to be able to immerse myself in something, I am interested in, and at the same time to learn a lot of chemistry.
For many the name Medicinal Chemistry indicates that you are going to work as a chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, and this was also my career dream, when I started on the programme. Through various initiatives from both students and the department with information about, which companies and job openings are possible with a degree in Medicinal Chemistry, however, I have found out that among other things, the food industry also offers a lot of exciting job opportunities. Some of the career events have also provided the opportunity to meet employees from different companies, which demonstrated how many different types of jobs you could get as a graduate from Medicinal Chemistry.
Rasmus Djurhuus, MSc in Medicinal Chemistry, Account Manager at Agilent Technologies
I acquired a fundamental, scientific knowledge during my Bachelor's programme, which included courses within physics, mathematics, physiological and molecular biology as well as both organic and inorganic chemistry. In that way, I learned about the different branches of medicinal chemistry, before having to choose which path I would like to pursue later in my academic programme. I was undecided about what I wanted to do later on, so this gave me some extra time to familiarise myself with the different study programmes, before I had to choose elective subjects.
My Master's degree programme in Medicinal Chemistry was a good combination of laboratory work and theoretical classes. With many elective subjects in the programme, it was very much up to me to compose my own study programme in a way so I specialised within the field I was interested in.
A typical job for me with my education would often be as a researcher in a pharmaceutical company, but today, I work as an Account Manager - a sales representative. I sell laboratory equipment, primarily equipment for chromatography and mass spectrometry, which is used in many different types of research, including in pharmaceutical companies, in food and environmental analyses, in the oil industry, etc. My daily work consists of talking to researchers and understanding their very different needs.
My education in Medicinal Chemistry has given me a basic understanding of how it is to conduct research, and I have been introduced to many different types of chemical and biological research. This is very useful in my job today, when I talk to my customers.
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.
With a Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry, you can work with the development and production of new drugs in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. You may also contribute to the development of new clinical and chemical diagnostic methods within the healthcare sector. The competencies you acquire during the programme are also in demand in other sectors, such as the food industry and other areas where chemical knowledge plays a central role. You will also be qualified to communicate your knowledge of chemistry and to teach at upper secondary schools or higher education institutions.
You may also choose to continue within the world of research by pursuing a PhD programme.
