Primary and lower secondary education is cumpolsory in Denmark. Every child in Denmark has to receive education comparable to what is offered in the Folkeskole (public primary and lower secondary education). As an alternative to the Folkeskole, a number of private schools exist, that are supported financially by the Danish Ministry of Education.

General upper secondary education is divided among five programmes named STX, HHX, HF, HTX and EUX which are offered at primarily public institutions. Along these general programmes are the vocational programmes EGU and VET, the so-called production schools and the international upper secondary schools.

Higher education institutions can be placed in 4 categories. They are all under the auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science, which has just recently taken over responsibility for a number of higher education that previously was the responsibility of other ministries. This includes higher education at the professional bachelor's degree level, including higher education for adults pursuing open education from the former Ministry of Education. This also includes the institutions that fall within this area. From the Ministry of Culture, the responsibility has been taken over for the creative higher education institutions that fell under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and the law regarding the Royal School of Library and Information Science, including insitutions that are covered by the law, as well as creative education that receive grants from the Ministry of Culture. However, this does not include the Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance, the National Film School of Denmark, the Schools of Visual Art or the music conservatories. And from the former Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the responsibility for cases concerning maritime education has been taken over. All these areas are a supplement to the responsibility of 8 universities, that provide higher education programmes, 7 university colleges, that offer professional bachelor programmes, and 9 academies of professional higher education.