Limited admission courses

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that the right students and as many as possible are given places on limited admission courses and that this happens as soon as possible after the registration period has ended.

Courses where the maximum number is exceeded

When the registration period is over, lists of courses are drawn, where the number of registered students exceeds the maximum number of participants in the courses.

Contact course coordinators

The course coordinators will be contacted and asked if the number of participants can be increased so that all registered students can be accepted.

Drawing of lots

For courses where the maximum number of participants is maintained, a drawing of lots will be made taking into account which students have priority and prioritisation according to the rules below.

Dissemination of results

The students who have been given a place on the courses will be notified on dates specified in the rules and regulations.

Waiting list

The course coordinators receive the waiting list so that they can allocate additional places if students do not show up for the course according to the rules.

Rules for limited admission courses:

  • The mandatory and semi-mandatory courses in a specific programme must, as a rule, be able to be taken by all students who are enrolled in this programme. This applies without reservation to the bachelor programmes and the general competence group in the master's programmes and must be strived for the technological specialization courses.
  • This means that if a course is included as a specialization course in a master's field and cannot admit all interested students from the field, then it must be carefully considered to duplicate the course or offer it again in the following teaching period. If this is not possible, the reasons for this must be stated in a statement to AUS.
  • For courses that subsequently have access restrictions, the lecturer/study board may decide that students enrolled in a specific programme (possibly more) in a possible lottery draw have priority.
  • Danish and foreign guest students as well as Open University students will not participate in a possible lottery draw until all full-time students have been offered seats.
  • Information about which students have priority must be entered in the comments field in the course database.

Below is the text from the rules and regulations:

Participation in limited admission courses

Some courses at DTU have participant restrictions due to laboratory or workshop exercises or similar. It is stated in the course description if there is a participant restriction in a course. During the post-enrollment period for courses, participants may be restricted to a course based on room capacity or academic conditions. 

Guidelines for fully booked courses
If a course is fully booked, the Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs will draw lots among the registered students to determine who gets to participate. No later than one month before the start of the teaching period, a study announcement will be sent out with information about the procedure for drawing lots in the event of fully booked courses.

All students who have registered for a course for which participation will be determined by drawing lots will receive an email with status information after the draw. There are three status types:

  • Place in the course guaranteed
  • On the waiting list
  • Lost draw

You can lose your place in a course with limited admission 
Students who have been granted a place in the course but who do not attend classes when the course starts and fail to notify and get approval from the lecturer of subsequent attendance will not be permitted to keep their place in an overbooked course after the dates stated below:

13-week period: after the end of class on the first day of teaching in the course
3-week period: four hours after course commencement

The place will be given to the next student present with the lowest number on the waiting list. 

Priority in case of drawing lots
The course description may state that students enrolled in specific study programmes have priority in a lot drawing. Students registered for a course within the deadline will be assigned a place or participate in drawing lots according to this priority. If nothing is stated in the course description, all full-time students registered within the deadline will participate equally in the draw.

  • In any drawing of lots, full-time students who have registered within the deadline and students on the flexible master’s programme (part-time programme) have priority over guest students and students on continuing education.
  • Students for whom the course is mandatory, or forms part of one of the mandatory groups, have priority over students for whom the course is not mandatory. If a student for whom a course forms a mandatory part of the programme loses a draw or is placed on the waiting list, the student in question will be guaranteed a place if they register for the course the next time it is offered.
  • Guest students studying at DTU under one of DTU's international joint programmes and for whom the course constitutes a mandatory programme element or part of the mandatory group take precedence over full-time students for whom the course is not mandatory, as well as other guest students and part-time students.
  • Students enrolled on part-time programmes for whom a course constitutes a mandatory programme element take precedence over students in part-time programmes for whom the course is not mandatory. 
  • Guest students and students in part-time programmes who register within the deadline will be assigned a place in overbooked courses and will have priority over full-time students who register after the deadline.

Non-priority in case of drawing lots
The following situation is not a priority in the case of drawing lots:

  • Students bound to a course, cf. the rules on binding courses, do not have priority in the case of drawing lots. That is also the case even if a student is about to exceed their maximum study duration.
Updated 19 januar 2026