The AMU system: FKB, IKV and VEU allowance

When you sign up for an AMU course, it often looks simple: you choose a course of a couple of days, show up, and afterwards you have a certificate. But behind the simple course lies a system that links the needs of the labour market with a uniform offer across the country's vocational colleges.

The AMU courses are grouped in common competence descriptions, abbreviated FKB. An FKB describes a job area and brings together the AMU objectives that belong to it. According to the Ministry of Education, AMU currently comprises approx. 135 FKBs, which together have approx. 3,000 AMU courses and single subjects linked to them. If you choose several courses within the same FKB, they often build on each other.

IKV stands for individual competence assessment. Here the school assesses what you can already do in relation to one or more AMU programmes. The law says that recognition of prior learning is given in the form of an individual education plan. So the education plan is your own plan after an IKV: it shows what you can already do and which courses you are missing. It is not a fixed package of courses laid out by the ministry.

The VEU allowance (adult, further and continuing education) makes it possible for a company to send an employee on a course without bearing the whole wage cost itself, and for a self-employed person to get compensation for lost earnings. The allowance corresponds to the unemployment benefit rate and is paid by AUB.

The caps

• 01No more than 37 hours a week and no more than your normal working hours.
• 02No more than 10 weeks (370 hours) of courses per calendar year.
• 03The same course at most 3 times per calendar year.
• 04Travel allowance is paid for kilometres beyond the first 24 km, at most 576 km per day — or at most 400 km per journey if you stay at the course venue.
• 05A complaint about a decision is sent to AUB no later than 4 weeks after you have received it.

Most AMU courses have a participant fee. The amount depends on the course and is provided by the school. In the social and health care field, the participant fee is DKK 0 following an agreement from January 2024.

AMU courses are offered by approved educational institutions all over the country — typically vocational colleges and AMU centres. Several schools often offer the same courses, so you can choose the time and place that suit you best.

Your workplace's role

You can sign up yourself, but it most often happens in dialogue with your workplace — both because it is typically the employer who applies for the VEU allowance, and because the courses should be linked to the tasks you will carry out afterwards. An employee development interview (MUS) or a competence development plan is a good opportunity.

The table shows the number of AMU participants per school year. Notice the drop in 2021 — what do you think happened that year? Statistics Denmark does not give the explanation itself.