We have Denmark’s best training department
Major recognition for an outstanding educational environment. The Danish Health Authority has awarded the top rating of ‘exceptionally good’ on all 16 assessed parameters. As a result, the ‘Danish Health Authority Education Award 2026 – Best Training Department’ goes to the Section for Orthodontics at the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Danish Health Authority Education Award – Best Training Department
- The Education Award helps highlight the importance of high-quality education and training for future medical and dental specialists.
- The Education Award is presented on the basis of assessments and reports by Danish Health Authority inspectors – a body of doctors and dentists appointed by the relevant medical and dental societies.
- The inspectors visit and assess training departments throughout Denmark on the basis of 16 themes that provide the framework for quality assurance and development of postgraduate medical and dental training.
- Most of the department is involved in the inspection visit, and the inspectors provide advice and input on how departments organise their postgraduate training.
- The Education Award is normally presented at the annual inspectors’ meeting, which was held in March. However, due to the calling of the election, the subsequent election campaign and the prolonged formation of a government, this year’s award will not be presented until 24 September at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health.
Read more on the Danish Health Authority website.
Postgraduate programme in Orthodontics
- The postgraduate programme in orthodontics is a three-year programme for dentists who wish to specialise in orthodontics.
- Many postgraduate students have worked as practising dentists for five to ten years before beginning the specialist training programme.
- Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen are the only institutions in Denmark where dentists can train as specialists in orthodontics.
- Aarhus University admits five postgraduate students in orthodontics each year.
- The programme is research-based and consists of both theoretical and clinical teaching at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health.
Read more on the Aarhus University website.
Each year, the Danish Health Authority presents an education award to the department – often a hospital department – that has made an exceptional contribution to the training of future medical and dental specialists.
This year, the ‘Danish Health Authority Education Award 2026 – Best Training Department’ goes to the Section for Orthodontics at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health. The section runs one of Denmark’s two specialist training programmes in orthodontics.
And there is good reason for the award.
“The award is presented to the section for its strong focus on the education and training of future specialists in orthodontics. During their visit, the inspectors were impressed by an exemplary educational culture built on a strong sense of community and a well-established culture of sharing experience and knowledge,” says Claus Malta Nielsen, Head of Unit at the Danish Health Authority, adding:
“Among other things, the inspectors highlight the excellent collaboration between the dentists in specialist training, the clinical teaching staff and supervisors, with teaching, supervision and guidance being prioritised in a busy working environment.”
Recognition with distinction
The Education Award is presented on the basis of reports and assessments by Danish Health Authority inspectors, who each year visit postgraduate training sites within medicine and dentistry.
The Section for Orthodontics was inspected in February 2025 and received the rating ‘exceptionally good’ – the highest possible rating – on all 16 parameters assessed.
“The Section for Orthodontics appears to be extremely well organised, with dedicated staff and students. The department enjoys an excellent reputation both nationally and internationally.”
– from the conclusion of the Danish Health Authority inspectors’ report
“The award means a great deal to us,” says Professor Peter Stoustrup. He is Head of the Section for Orthodontics and Head of the Postgraduate programme in Orthodontics at Aarhus University.
“The award is recognition that we provide an ambitious postgraduate programme at a high academic and professional level without compromising the social aspects that we believe are essential to creating a good learning environment,” he explains.
Peter Stoustrup emphasises that the award is the result of a team effort.
“The high academic standards and positive learning environment that we strive for in the postgraduate programme have been built up within the section over many years. This is an education award for everyone at the Section for Orthodontics. It has been achieved through hard work and collaboration and recognises the considerable effort made by all members of the section to provide a postgraduate programme of exceptional quality,” says Peter Stoustrup, who could perhaps be described as a kind of head coach.
A university programme in step with the times
The postgraduate programme in orthodontics is rooted in a traditional educational framework, but staff continuously introduce new initiatives – drawing both on students’ experiences and on new digital technologies – to raise academic standards, keep the programme up to date and support the students’ personal development.
“I hope and believe that our postgraduate students experience a high degree of independence and influence, so that together we can achieve our shared goal: creating high academic standards in an environment where people genuinely want to be,” says Peter Stoustrup, adding:
“The Danish Health Authority’s Education Award is a valuable reminder that high-quality education requires knowledge, academic expertise and the capacity to address all the many aspects that are essential for good learning – and universities have those qualities.”
Peter Stoustrup will accept the Education Award on behalf of the section from Claus Malta Nielsen, Head of Unit at the Danish Health Authority, at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health on Thursday 24 September 2026.
Contact
Professor, Head of Section and Head of the Postgraduate programme in Orthodontics Peter Stoustrup
Aarhus University, Department of Dentistry and Oral Health
Tel.: +45 61 33 44 64
Email: pstoustrup@dent.au.dk