OPU — Work Placements Abroad (Oplæring i udlandet)

OPU Work Placements Abroad — seed

Supports enables approximately Danish vocational students per to complete traineeships abroad as part of their qualification.

The OPU programme (Oplæring i udlandet — Work Placements Abroad) is administered by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (UFSN) under the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. Its purpose is to advance the internationalisation of Danish vocational education by enabling students to complete part or all of their required traineeship period at a company or institution abroad rather than in Denmark. The programme runs continuously and is deeply integrated into the vocational qualification structure, meaning participating students fulfil a formal component of their Danish credential during their time overseas.

Approximately 1,500 Danish vocational students participate in OPU placements each year. More than 40 percent of those students come from commercial upper secondary school backgrounds (handelsskoler/business programmes). Eligible participants are students enrolled in a Danish vocational education and training (erhvervsuddannelse / EUD) programme or apprenticeship who wish to complete a traineeship period at a foreign host employer. The programme is open to the full range of vocational tracks across Denmark. No award amounts are published in English-language official sources; the scale of individual support is established through direct contact with the responsible UFSN advisor, Lars Møller Bentsen (lmb@ufm.dk).

Applications are made on a rolling basis, with no published fixed deadline in the English-language documentation. Danish vocational schools or training coordinators interested in arranging an OPU placement for one or more students should contact UFSN directly to confirm the scope of support available for the relevant trade or qualification programme. International placement hosts themselves do not apply; the Danish educational institution or student initiates the process through UFSN.