Denmark-USA Programme

Denmark-USA Programme — seed

Helps research teams and institutions for Denmark USA in cross-sector innovation.

The Denmark-USA Programme is a bilateral education exchange administered by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (UFSN) under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. Its legal basis is a Memorandum of Understanding between the Danish Ministry of Education and the U.S. Department of Education, originally signed in 2000 and subsequently extended multiple times. The programme's stated objective is to support transatlantic cooperation in technical and vocational training and to promote the internationalisation of vocational education systems in both countries.

The programme provides travel and exchange grants to students, teachers, institutional leaders, and affiliated board and committee members from Danish vocational colleges (erhvervsskoler) who visit U.S. community colleges and companies for education and training purposes. American community college staff members who come to Denmark as guest lecturers are also eligible for support. Eligibility is specifically limited to Danish vocational college stakeholders and their U.S. community college counterparts; higher education institutions, research organisations, and for-profit companies are not eligible. No specific award amounts or annual application deadlines are published in English-language official sources; applicants initiate contact directly through the responsible UFSN advisor, Lars Møller Bentsen (lmb@ufm.dk, +45 7231 8926).

Organisations considering this programme should note that it operates as a relationship-based exchange rather than a competitive open call. Danish vocational colleges planning transatlantic visits or seeking to host American guest lecturers should reach out to the UFSN advisor to discuss eligibility and available support. The programme is particularly relevant for erhvervsskoler aiming to benchmark Danish vocational curricula against U.S. community college models or to develop joint instructional content across the two systems.