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Universities in Denmark accepted more than 65,000 students this year, a fall of 2 per cent compared with 2016.

This is the first year since 2008 that the number of university places accepted by students has fallen, but the country¡¯s higher education minister said that there was no cause for concern over the figures.

About a quarter of the almost 92,000 students who applied for a university place did not secure one.

S?ren Pind, Denmark¡¯s minister for higher education, said: ?¡°It¡¯s nothing that one should be worried about. On the contrary, we should celebrate the fact that young people appear to be focusing on where they can actually find jobs after [their education].¡±

Mr Pind : ¡°We¡¯ve seen an enormous increase in the number of acceptances over the past several years and sooner or later ¨C as a consequence of available funds and the discussions on the quality of the education institutions ¨C it had to stop."?

He added that IT and engineering programmes accepted a higher number of students in 2017 compared with 2016, but that arts, humanities and education programmes accepted fewer.?

holly.else@timeshighereducation.com