Lost in translation: what it means to be an international student in Denmark’s media system at DMJX

At the Danish School of Media and Journalism, international students arrive each year to study journalism in English, learn reporting skills, and experience a Nordic media environment often associated with press freedom and strong professional standards. But interviews with staff, students, and alumni suggest a more complicated reality beneath the surface. 

A programme not primarily aimed at Danish journalism 

Line Schmeltz, who teaches corporate communication at DMJX, explains that the programme’s core purpose is not specifically tied to training journalists for Danish newsrooms. 

She says the primary goal is “to prepare the student for working with sustainability strategy and communication,” implying that while the programme is designed for “both” Danish and international contexts, its orientation is broader than the Danish media industry. Her answers suggest that while international students are part of the institution, their integration into the Danish media sector is not the central outcome the programme is built around.

“More geared towards the international media market” 

A different perspective comes from Joshua Coe, a former student of the Erasmus Mundus Journalism Master’s programme in Journalism, Media and Globalisation, who now serves on its advisory board and previously worked as a teaching assistant at DMJX. Joshua Coe explains that his motivation for joining the programme was both professional and academic. He says, 

“I wanted more hands-on experience reporting abroad, not just living overseas, but also wanted to better understand the function of journalism in society across different media cultures.” 

However, he believes the programme is not primarily designed around Denmark as a job market. 

“From my own experience, the Erasmus Mundus Journalism program is more geared towards the international media market,” he says. 

Joshua Coe adds that most students in his cohort aimed to stay in Europe, but not necessarily in Denmark unless they already had personal ties. He also describes Denmark as a relatively limited market for international journalists. While he acknowledges that roles exist, he says they are few and often concentrated in a small number of English-language outlets such as The Copenhagen Post and The Local Denmark. 

Language as opportunity and barrier 

Across all interviews, language emerges as one of the most decisive factors shaping international journalism careers in Denmark. 

Joshua Coe argues that Danish is not always necessary for journalistic work, particularly for correspondents working for international outlets. However, he stresses that language significantly shapes access and depth of reporting. He explains that while journalists “can work without it,” their work becomes “richer, more informed and more plentiful” if they learn Danish. He adds that learning the language “gets to the essence of the correspondent’s work: helping to translate one society for another.” 

At the same time, he is clear about the limits. If the goal is to work in Danish journalism, he says, “you absolutely have to speak Danish.” 

He notes that the few internationals working in Danish journalism are typically either from neighbouring countries, have Danish family ties, or work in the small number of English-language publications. Line Schmeltz similarly suggests that while international graduates may not be excluded from the labour market, opportunities are limited. She says some graduates can work in “large companies where English is the corporate language,” implying that communication and media roles in Danish remain more restricted. 

Institutional distance from career outcomes 

Anna Kathrine Nejrup, counsellor for international students at DMJX, provides an institutional explanation for this gap. 

She clarifies that international undergraduate students at DMJX are exchange students who “do not leave DMJX with a full degree, but go home and graduate at their home university.” 

Because of this structure, she explains, “we do not talk to them much about the Danish media landscape or global journalism careers.” She adds that this is “not really relevant, since they will not graduate from DMJX.” 

Students navigating uncertainty 

International students themselves describe a more uncertain picture. 

Students such as Yash Shingan and Shreya Nair describe DMJX as a place that provides strong journalistic training and exposure to different media systems, but they also point to uncertainty about what comes next. 

They describe the programme as valuable for learning journalistic methods and gaining international experience, but less clear in terms of long-term career pathways, especially in Denmark. 

This uncertainty reflects a broader question raised across interviews: whether the programme is designed to prepare students for a Danish media career at all. 

Staying in Denmark: possible but limited 

For Joshua Coe, the biggest challenge international journalism students face is not education itself, but staying in Denmark after graduation. He says the “biggest challenge for international journalism students in Denmark today is simply staying in Denmark as journalists in the long term.” He points to immigration rules and the absence of clear freelance pathways for non-EU journalists. 

“There’s no digital nomad visa, and self-employment routes are generally difficult to access in practice,” he explains. 

Instead, many international graduates shift into communications or other adjacent fields. Coe suggests this is less a failure of education and more a reflection of structural conditions in Denmark’s labour market and immigration system. 

A quiet gap between education and industry 

The result is not a clear contradiction, but a quiet gap between education and professional reality. 

International students at DMJX are trained in journalism, but their access to the Danish media industry depends heavily on language, immigration status, and market size, factors largely outside the classroom. 

As Coe puts it, the experience is still meaningful, particularly for understanding media systems and developing reporting skills. But it also reveals something more structural: that journalism education in Denmark does not necessarily guarantee entry into Danish journalism. 

When asked about if the international students are expected or realistically even can become a part of the Danish job market, Line Schmeltz acknowledged that they are “not expected” to work in Denmark after graduation, although “some of them will be able to work in large companies where English is the corporate language,” again highlighting language being one of the main deciding factors. 

Hence, the institution prepares students for a more fluid, international media landscape while the industry they are physically studying in remains largely national.