Honors Program in Physics and Nanotechnology

The Honors Program in Physics and Nanotechnology provides elite students with an opportunity to follow a particularly challinging and research oriented curriculum.

The Honors Program offers the following advantages

• A personal tutor, who is an internationally recognized researcher in one of our best research groups.  The departments participating in the program have some of Denmarks most cited researchers.
• An individually designed study plan, adapted for the students interests.  While the study plan must follow the overall structure of the DTU Master Programs, it may in its details depart from the requirements otherwise laid out for the M.Sc. in Physics and Nanotechnology.
• Participation in an international research conference or summer school.
• For students without previous international experience: a component of study outside Denmark.

Admission

Students wishing to enroll for the Honors Program must apply when applying for their DTU M.Sc.  In addition to the general admission criterial for the M.Sc. program, an Honors student must

• Have completed a B.Sc. or similar program with exceptionally good results (minimum grade average of 10 on the new Danish grade scale, or similar).
• Have demonstated a significant level of ambition and competence during their B.Sc., including in the B.Sc. thesis project.
• Possess outstanding intellectual and personal qualities, to be assessed in an interview.
• Include in the application a separate letter describing why you have chosen to apply for the Honors Program.  The letter should also describe the area of particular interest in your Master studies, including which study line (if any) you want to follow.  If you already know who you would like as your tutor, please state it in the letter.  Students with B.Sc. degrees from outside DTU should also enclose descriptions of the most important courses followed during their bachelor.

Students with a B.Sc. from DTU can be admitted directly into the Honors Program.  Students with other backgrounds will be provisionally admitted, and after the first semester it is evaluated if the admission to the Honors Program is finalized, or if the student is transferred to the ordinary M.Sc. program.

Performance requirements

To have the Honors Master Program recognized on their diploma, the student must

• Follow the individual student plan.  Note that the study plan can be revised during the study, if the student, the tutor and the program coordinator so agree.
• Obtain a minimum average grade of 10 on the new Danish grading scale.

The student is evaluated at the end of each term.  If it is judged unlikely that the student will be able to meet the requirements above, the student will be transferred to the ordinary M.Sc. program.  In that case, the individual study plan is cancelled, and the student in principle follows the standard M.Sc. program.  We will, however, make allowances for students that have already followed elements on their special study plan that would normally not be approved on the standard M.Sc. program.  For example, if the special study plan listed technological specialization courses outside the ordinary list of such courses, and the student has already passed the course, the course will still count after transfer to the ordinary program.

Elite module

We offer a special elite module "Catalysis and Sustainable Energy Solutions" for students with interest in surface physics and atomic-scale materials physics.  This module is mainly aimed at Honors Program students but is open for other students with similar qualifications.

Further information

You are welcome to contact the programme coordinator at for further information. You can also find information on these web pages:

• General information about the DTU Honors Programs (in English, aimed at international students).
• Same information in Danish for Danish students.
• Elite module Catalysis and Sustainable Energy Solutions.