Ranum Efterskole College is a private bilingual Danish and international efterskole, a boarding school, in Ranum in northern Jutland for teenagers aged 14-17 in grades 9 and 10. It opened on 1 August 2004 in the buildings of a former teacher training college; with more than 500 students it calls itself one of the largest general efterskoler in Denmark and the largest in North Jutland. Students come from all over Denmark and more than 25 countries. The Danish track leads to the FP9 and FP10 exams with teaching by level, and grade 10 students can add 1-2 IGCSE electives; the International Program (IP) in grade 10 is taught in English following the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus and ends with IGCSE exams. The year has four periods: students choose two profile subjects and one culture subject (diving, sailing, surfing, music, design and more), each ending with a trip - three trips a year to more than 50 destinations, from London to Nepal. The UN Sustainable Development Goals are built into teaching, and students vote on new profile subjects and clubs.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Danish, English
Languages taught
German, French, Spanish, Chinese
Registration fee
≈ $302
2 000 DKK
About the fees An efterskole charges one combined fee for accommodation, meals, teaching, school clothing and a backpack. 2026-2027: 43 weeks at 2950 DKK, that is 126850 DKK, paid in 12 instalments from June to May. The state subsidy, based on household income and the number of children, is available to Danish citizens and students with ties to Denmark. International students without ties to Denmark must take the Full Host Package at 57350 DKK a year (mentor, help with the study permit and registration, airport transfers, IGCSE books, exam fees and certificates, bed linen, autumn and Easter holiday programmes and long weekends): together with tuition this is 184200 DKK for 2026-2027. For 2027-2028 a week costs 3050 DKK, the year 131150 DKK, and with the Full Host Package 188500 DKK (about 27000 euro). Paid separately: profile and culture subject trips (0 to 13000 DKK within Europe, 6500 to 18000 DKK outside it), international programme books (1750 DKK), the Christmas programme for international students (13000 DKK), flights and insurance.
Admissions The school is open to Danish and international students aged 14-17. Danish students join after grade 8 or 9 of folkeskole and can enter the IGCSE class; international students can join the IGCSE class from age 14. International students without relatives in Denmark must take the Full Host Package, and the school is then responsible for the student all year, including long weekends and holidays; international and Danish students from abroad without the package must have a registered Danish address, a CPR number and a Danish contact or host family before the start. Proof of legal residence is required before arrival: non-EU citizens need a study permit via the ST1 form (the school completes part 2; processing takes 2-3 months), EU citizens an EU residence document. The paperwork includes a passport copy, a letter from the school, notarised parental consent, notarised copies of the parents' passports and an English birth certificate, a declaration of financial support and proof of payment for the full year. The school offers tours and online registration.
Stages and year groups Grades 9-10. Grade 9: all compulsory subjects with FP9 exams, 30 academic lessons and 6 activity and profile lessons a week; teaching by level in Danish, mathematics, English and German; an optional extra Cambridge IGCSE exam in English as a second language. Grade 10: a choice of 10. Klassisk, 10. Kompas or 10. Projektledelse (without FP10 exams), each with three Danish electives or Danish electives plus 1-2 IGCSE electives, or the SKILLS track with an elective; aimed at the STX, HHX, HTX and EUX upper secondary programmes. International Program (IP) in grade 10: taught in English following the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus, ending with IGCSE exams (international students sit 5 chosen IGCSE subjects); compulsory English (First or Second Language), International Mathematics and Global Perspectives; IGCSE electives: biology, business, chemistry, combined science, environmental management, French, geography, German, history, Mandarin, marine science, physics, psychology, Spanish and sociology. Danish in IP has three tracks: grade 10 Danish with the FP10 exam, expat Danish and Danish as a second language; under Danish law IP counts as a grade 10 without compulsory Danish exams. IGCSE grades run from A* to G; for further study the school advises at least 5 C grades.
Address Seminarievej 23, 9681 Ranum
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre: in Year 10 the International Program follows Cambridge IGCSE entirely, and in the regular Year 10 students can take IGCSE subjects as electives. The main curriculum is Danish, with the folkeskole exams.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Clubs and activities: Baking · Basketball · Beginner Guitar · Blacksmithing · Ceramics · Climbing · Design · eSport · Fitness Dance · Football · Golf · Handball · Kayaking · Knitting · Mindfulness · Paddle Tennis · Sailing · SoMe (social media) · Strength Training · SUP Boarding · Surfing · Swimming · Wakeboarding · Windsurfing · Yoga / Pilates
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
In summer the school runs the International Sommerskole for ages 13-17: from 4 July to 4 August 2027, from 1 to 5 weeks, with modules to choose from (Danish or English as a second language, beginner Chinese, business and marketing, coral restoration, event planning, politics, sport, psychology and more), weekly trips around Denmark and theme evenings. There is also a two-week English Language School with Cambridge English and five-day camps in surfing, PADI diving and dance. Registration and payment are due at least 4 weeks before the start.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
The school says it has about 100 staff, and the school life page says 110; the staff list shows management and teachers of Danish and IGCSE subjects, including Mandarin, Spanish and German. Students are divided into 40 contact groups of 9-10, each with its own contact teacher who follows their well-being; student conversations take place every quarter. There are four guidance counsellors, an international department (deputy head, international administrator, admissions) and a coordinator for Full Host students.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
·Nurse or medical roomnot stated on the website
·Counsellornot stated on the website
✓Child protection policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school has a well-being and anti-bullying policy (revised 12.08.2022) and house rules, plus safety instructions for water activities and travel; boats, equipment and procedures are inspected twice a year by an external expert. Contact teachers and pedagogical house staff look after well-being; possible violations can be reported anonymously through the national whistleblower scheme. International students meet the international department every 2-3 weeks.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median83 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country
Ranum, Denmark · est. 2004 · Private