Information about coronavirus 

Information on VIA's contingency plan

• General information for students, staff and guests

  Access to Campus

  VIA’s campuses are open to all students, and classes will be conducted according to the guidelines provided to students by each study programme. Students will be notified directly in case of changes. 

  Please follow the guidelines posted on hygiene, keeping distance etc. at each campus.

  Follow official guidelines

  VIA’s contingency plan and recommendations will follow the official guidelines from the Danish authorities. For general information on the coronavirus outbreak in Denmark, the strategy and recommendations of the Danish Ministry of Health or guidelines on travels to and from Denmark, we recommend that you stay updated by visiting the official site on coronavirus from the Danish authorities. It is also possible to call the Joint Danish Authority Hotline on +45 7020 0233.

  Students may also benefit from visiting the Q&A by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.

  Staff

  If you are an employee at VIA, go to the employee portal to find more information about working/teaching from home, travles, IT safety etc.

  Contact VIA

  If you have questions related to coronavirus, please send an email to international@via.dk. 

• Testing requirements for entry to Denmark and campus

  As a precautionary measure, VIA’s Executive Board has decided that all new and current international students, both exchange and full degree, must be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival* in Denmark.

  *Update, 11 August: Students must be tested when they arrive in Denmark regardless of any tests they may have taken in their home countries. The requirement applies to students who arrive in Denmark 14 days or less before their activity will begin on campus. If you have not been outside Denmark, or you have been in Denmark for more than 14 days before your activity begins, you do not need to take a test.

  The testing requirement applies to all international students regardless of nationality and whether or not they are travelling from an open or banned country. Students are responsible for getting tested and making sure that they have received a test answer in due time before their activities at VIA commence. Therefore, VIA University College recommends that you arrive in Denmark no later than 4 working days before you have to be present at one of VIA’s campuses.

  The COVID-19 test is free of charge and does not require a Danish civil registration (CPR) number. Testing stations are available at the airports in Copenhagen and Billund, at the Danish/German border (Kruså and Frøslev crossings) and at the Øresund Bridge.

  You can find more information in this fact sheet from the Danish authorities or by visiting the following sites:

  • Copenhagen Airport
  • Billund Airport

  If it is not possible to get tested at the Danish border, it may be possible to be tested in either Aarhus, Viborg or Herning at one of the mobile test stations for students without a Danish CPR number. For more information, visit the website of the health authorities in the Central Denmark Region. Students with a Danish CPR number can also book a test by contacting their GP and to get a referral to one of the local test locations.

  If you test positive, the Danish authorities will notify you by phone within 48 hours of your test. If you test negative, you will not receive a phone call. As you will not receive documentation of your negative test result, we expect students to act responsibly and therefore to take the test and act in accordance with the test result.

  If you test positive, you must follow authority guidelines, inform VIA and self-isolate. Find the authorities’ guidelines here.

  Students are under no circumstances allowed to enter any of VIA's campuses until 48 hours after they have been tested.

• Procedure for students with covid-19

  If you have tested positive for covid-19, it is important that you contact your study programme and inform them that you are ill.

  In order to make contact tracing more efficient, VIA recommends that you install the app ” Smitte|stop” on your phone.

  Take care of yourself and others – limit the risk of infection!

  Symptoms of covid-19

  If you experience symptoms of covid-19 it is important that you stay at home and contact your physician by phone, so that you can be tested.

  Symptoms of covid-19 are:

  • Fever
  • Cough
  • Sore throat
  • Headache
  • Muscle soreness
  • Loss of sense of smell and taste
  • Stuffy or runny nose

  If you are tested positive for covid-19

  Contact your study programme and inform them that you have been tested positive for covid-19. In addition you should contact the people you have been in close contact with, as your contacts have to be traced.

  
  Examples of close contacts are:

  • People you live with
  • People you have been in physical contact with (e.g. through hugs)
  • People you have had close (less than 1 meter), face-to-face contact with for more than 15 minutes

  Read the Ministry of Health’s information material on what to do if you have been tested positive for more information.

  If you have been in "close contact" with a person tested positive for covid-19

  To be considered a ”close contact”, you have to have been in contact with the infected person from 48 hours before the persons symptoms started and until 48 hours after the symptoms have ceased.

  If you have had ”close contact” with a person tested positive for covid-19, you must:

  • Stay at home and cancel all visits
  • If possible, keep distance to the people you live with and avoid physical contact such as kisses and hugs. It is especially important to keep distance to people that are vulnerable due to other health issues or age
  • Be particularly careful to adhere to the health authorities’ guidelines on good hand hygiene and coughing etiquette, in addition to focusing on thorough and frequent cleaning
  • Be aware of any symptoms of covid-19
  • Contact your own physician as quickly as possible to be referred for testing. Even if you do not have any symptoms of covid-19
  • If you are tested negative, you can cancel your self-isolation. But you still have to be aware of any symptoms that may develop

  Read the Ministry of Health’s information material on what to do if you have been in close contact with an infected person

• New students 2020

  The Danish borders have opened and so has VIA and we are looking very much forward to welcoming our new international students for the 2020 fall semester.

  However, study start will be different this term. Due to the corona situation, and in order to minimize the risk of infection, all social activities such as freshers’ trips, parties, Friday bar etc. are cancelled until further notice throughout VIA’s locations.

  Travelling to Denmark

  The Danish borders are open and the requirements for entering depends on whether or not you are travelling from an open or banned country. Find updated information on travelling in and out of Denmark here. Guidelines change alle the time - make sure to check the official authority websites before departure.

  All new and current international VIA students must be tested for COVID-19 upon entering Denmark - read more above.

  Residence Permit

  If you are a citizen of a non-EU country you need a residence permit to study in Denmark. The application process takes place in your home country before arrival in Denmark, and is processed by Danish embassies or Visa Facilitation Service Centers. Normally, the processing can take up to 60 days, but currently processing times may be longer, because many embassies are closed. Please contact the Danish embassy or VFS center closest to you in order to determine when you will able to apply. For more information on Danish immigration, please visit their webpage.

  If you are considering an exchange semester at VIA, please be aware that we continue to accept nominations for the spring 2021 semester. Learn more about our exchange opportunities.

  Find more general information for new international students on this page.

  If you have any questions, not answered in the information on this site, please contact the Admissions Office if you are a full degree applicant, or your International Coordinator at VIA, if you are an incoming exchange student.

• Current international students at VIA

  VIA is open again and our campuses and other locations are ready to welcome back students for the fall 2020 semester.

  Note that all international students are required to get tested for coronavirus before returning to campus. Read more above in the Testing requirements tab.

  Due to the corona situation, and in order to minimize the risk of infection, all social activities such as freshers’ trips, parties, Friday bar etc. are cancelled until further notice throughout VIA’s locations

  We follow the recommendations of the Danish Ministry of Health to ensure that students can feel safe on campus. Guidelines are posted on campus and will be distributed to students on e-mail and on Itslearning.

  Teaching

  In-person, practice oriented classes are a very important part of our teaching at VIA and we therefore advise all students to enter Denmark well in time for study start, if you are not already here. We expect that teaching will for the most part take place as normal in class, complemented by online teaching and self-study.

  If you are crossing borders in order to come back to study, we recommend that you download and travel with a “Declaration of Study Activity” from the Self-Service Portal at VIA – mitVIA.

  Be aware that classes may be placed later in the afternoons than what you have been used to. This is necessary in order to practice social distancing and make sure that there are not too many people on campus at once.

  Internships and study trips

  Please contact your study programme regarding internships and study trips in autumn 2020/spring 2021. If you travel abroad, be aware that there may be some limitations as to what your travel insurance covers due to Covid-19.

  Erasmus+ grants fall 2020

  Due to COVID-19, the application processing times for Erasmus+ scholarships are currently prolonged. Therefore, it has been decided that from 1 September 2020, all applications (including documentation) must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the mobility activity (e.g. internship, exchange and the like). In addition, guidelines for Erasmus+ has been adapted to accommodate the coronavirus situation:

  • It is now possible to engage in ’blended mobility.’ This means that students can start their mobility activity in the country he/she is studying in and go abroad to finish the activity. The total mobility period must still be a minimum of 60 days for internships and 90 days for exchange activities. However, there is no minimum for how long the student is abroad. It is for instance possible to divide the activity by staying 40 days in Denmark and 20 days in Germany. The student will only be eligible for a grant in the period that he/she spends abroad, i.e. 20 day in this example.
  • If a mobility activity takes place virtually and the student has gone abroad, she/he will be eligible for a grant – even if the student is not able to be present on campus, it is sufficient to be abroad.
  • In connection with ’blended mobility’, it must be clear in the application which period the student is abroad.

  For more information go to the ministry’s website (in Danish) or contact your international coordinator for more information

  Counselling for students

  VIA offers phone counselling for international students who are having a hard time in the wake of the corona crisis. Find more information here.

• Admissions 2020

  The deadline for international applicants to VIA’s full degree programmes was 22 March and admissions 2020 is now completed. You will receive the final acceptance letter on 28 July.

  Contact the admissions office if you have questions about your acceptance/rejection. More about admissions and contact information 

  Delays in documentation

  The deadline for handing in all documentation is 5 July at noon. If you are unable to get documentation such as verification forms, transcripts and diplomas as a result of the corona situation, please contact our Admissions Office in the admissions portal or send an e-mail to apply@via.dk to find a solution. Note that you only have access to VIA's admissions portal, if you have applied to one of our programmes in 2020.

  In addition to the language test VIA normally accepts, we also accept the following online language test certificates for all programmes for the 2020 intake: IELTS Indicator and TOEFL Special Home Edition test.

  Questions about your programme?

  Please contact our admissions counsellors at the central admissions office or the student counsellor at the programme you applied for. Find contact information on the programme website