First-Job Guarantee
An unique initiative of local companies to attract young talents from all over the world to our engineering study programmes. The scheme fosters close collaboration of students with the regional industrial environment.
Companies that have signed up for the job-guarantee scheme
Danfoss A/S, LINAK, Agramkow, Bitzer, Lindab, CCM Electronic Engineering, Converdan, Damm Cellular Systems A/S, Hannemann Engineering, PAJ Group A/S, Swienty, SAAB Danmark
Background
Southern Denmark and Northern Germany have a strong concentration of electronics companies who not only stand strong on the European, but also on the global market. Analyses conducted by Oxford Research and Rambøll meanwhile concurrently state that these companies will be needing more engineers than they can attract in years to come. This is why SDU Sønderborg seeks to educate more engineering students. To educate engineers locally is an advantage in that they typically chose to settle in the area and thus can become a future employee for you and your company.
Why is the first job-guarantee scheme necessary?
Companies know the hard competitive conditions of the market mechanisms. So do universities. There is strong competition in being the most wanted education city. In Sønderborg, we not only have to compete with larger Danish cities, such as Aarhus, Aalborg and Copenhagen, but on international terms also with cities ranging from Berlin via Bologna to Boston.
Thus, we need to stand out and offer something the others cannot offer. With a first job-guarantee scheme in hand, SDU will hold a strong trump card.
You are holding this leaflet in your hands because we need to attract more engineering students to SDU Sønderborg. Here, you and your company play a vital role. Offering a first job-guarantee, provides us with strong marketing tool and an exceptionally effective recruitment tool. Hence, we’d like to ask companies to sign declarations of intent or commitment.
Can tip the balance for international students
Imagine a young Italian in Bologna who is considering his or her educational options. It is a huge decision to say goodbye to mama, pizza, Mediterranean sun and cappuccino and to move 1500 kilometres to Sønderborg – a town that he or she probably hasn’t ever heard of. Unemployment in Italy is, however, completely different from the one in Denmark, so maybe the first job-guarantee scheme can be the thing that lets him or her choose SDU Sønderborg. This is what we hope for.
What do companies have to guarantee?
The scheme is valid for the educational engineering programmes in Sønderborg. It is up to you and your company to declare that you want to offer a number of positions for graduated engineers for a minimum duration of six months. It is up to the companies themselves to decide if you’d like to offer a permanent or a temporary position. Salaries and other conditions such as giving notice are subject to the current standards for the newly educated.
The scheme will enter into force for the newly educated MSc engineers in June 2022 and for the BEng engineers in January 2024.
Also demands on the students
The scheme does not only make demands on the companies but also on the students.
As a very important part of the teaching, the students work together in groups or teams. They enter into the so-called PBL-method (Problem-Based Learning) in which they work on a series of different cases or solve tasks in groups with other students.
To ensure the right commitment, the students engage to live up to following compulsory requirements:
- The graduate must collaborate with a Danish company on a project
For BEng: Internship and/or Final Project; For MSc: In-company Project and/or Thesis - The graduate must have completed the degree without delay
- The graduate must have acquired Danish language skills equivalent to level B1 on the CERF scale (Requires certification)
- Participation in career activities offered during their study period. Some activities will be mandatory for the students
An initiative for the benefit of all
CEO of Lodam, Henning Højberg Kristensen, is one of the company managers who already signed a declaration of intent for the benefit of the first job-guarantee scheme. About his motivation he says:”Those graduates will be much sought after, and we, too, are going to need some of them so altogether, the first job-guarantee scheme is a really good initiative. Of course, you think “what if?” and how is the situation going to look like in a few years’ time when we have to live up to the first job-guarantee scheme? In this context, we just have to remember that our biggest concern is that there won’t be enough new students. At the same time, the three requirements ensure that the scheme is useful in practice.
Help SDU to help you and your company
By signing a declaration of intent or commitment, you help SDU in the efforts of recruiting more and better engineering students. In the end, this means more and better engineers for you and your company.
SDU facilitates that students and companies can meet during the study period in connection with both student jobs, projects, internships as well as matchmaking by arranging Business Lunch, project and trainee days at SDU.
Do you have questions regarding the scheme, you are welcome to contact our innovation consultant:
Frederik Gottlieb
frede@tek.sdu.dkT +45 6550 1618