In relevant cases, international staff in fixed-term positions must be encouraged to learn Danish
with regard to improving their career opportunities in Denmark and enhancing their integration at
the workplace and in Danish society. Thus, the department/faculty should also offer Danish
language courses to fixed-term staff members and PhD students.
2. International employees’ Danish-language skills
The UCPH language policy consists of 10 sections divided into principles on "Language and employees" and "Language and students". Below you can find our take on the principle 2.4 regarding International employees' Danish-language skills.
Principle 2.4
The Danish language requirement stipulated in Principle 2.1 does not apply to international members of staff in fixed-term positions (PhD students, postdocs, and similar). Nevertheless, Principle 2.4 suggests that it may be a good investment for the individual employee and the department to give employees in fixed-termed positions a chance to learn Danish during the course of their stay in Denmark.
Having English is often seen as sufficient for academics working in Denmark, and in most cases, English will indeed be enough for handling everyday work tasks. Yet, learning Danish as the local language may become an important additional resource in helping integration into the workplace and Danish society.
Limited resources may make it difficult for departments to offer non-permanent members of academic staff the same level of support for language learning as is offered to tenure-track assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors. Yet, it may also be possible to extend many of the initiatives we describe under Principle 2.1 to non-tenured members of staff.
It is important for management to be very clear in explaining what Danish language learning opportunities are available, how such opportunities can support employees in their language development, and why it may be a good idea to pursue them – while respecting that learning Danish will not be relevant for all fixed-term employees.
For employees who are interested in learning Danish, it will be important to seek out opportunities for learning and practicing Danish in formal (i.e., classroom) as well as informal (i.e., social) settings. Therefore, a combination of language classes and the opportunity to use Danish on a daily basis with colleagues – for instance a designated language buddy – will be ideal.
At CIP, we offer Danish language courses that help develop language skills that are relevant for meeting specific communicative demands in an academic context rather than the development of general language skills.
CIP can also facilitate workshops for departments or other units at UCPH that would like inspiration for implementing the language policy locally. We have developed various workshop formats that are useful for facilitating what can be quite difficult conversations about language.
If you’re interested in knowing more about what we offer at CIP, please contact us at cip@hum.ku.dk or +45 35 32 86 39.