COPEHNGEN: Denmark are entitled to both the Danish state student grant and the equivalent repayable loan, provided they fulfil certain requirements (such as working for 10-12 hours weekly).
But the Danish state is yet to receive a large amount of repayment on the loans given to international students, it was reported last year.
“It is a growing problem that foreigners that receive SU loans leave Denmark and don’t pay. That is simply unfair. That’s why the government is taking action against it,” tax minister Karsten Lauritzen said to Ritzau.
The government hopes to establish an agreement with the EU over the recovery of debts, but will seek bilateral deals with individual countries in the shorter term, writes the news bureau.
The government announcement comes as parliament on Friday is set to assess a proposal by the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF) to completely bar foreign nationals from receiving SU.
“[State] loans to foreign students must be stopped,” DF’s education spokesperson Jens Henrik Thulesen Dahl told Ritzau.
Thulesen Dahl rejection the suggestion that such a measure would break an agreement with Nordic neighbours Sweden and Norway, who operate similar student finance systems, enabling Danish students to study in the other Scandinavian countries.
