DTU SkyLab pilots event for students, alumni and companies
6 September 2023
DTU is testing a concept for reaching out to both students, alumni and companies at the same time. Hoping to create a new meeting place, where through presentations by both staff and students, speed dating and informal dialogue over food, different target groups get to know the EuroTeQ Engineering University. EuroTeQ offers many activities to different audiences, but especially one brings them all together: the EuroTeQ Collider. This unique hackathon competition is promoted at all alliance universities during the autumn semester to recruit for the next competition taking place during the spring and summer of 2024.
After an introduction to EuroTeQ, Christina Jespersen from DTU SkyLab informed students how to sign up for the next Collider at DTU. And how, as an alumni or representative of a company, one can contriubute with a challenge to the competition. The Skylab team will faciliatet the process to make it straightforward and a true win for all sides. Attendees showed much expressions of interest.
The event continued with different speakers from both the students’ side and the alumni side. Chair of the DTU Student Union, Natasha Hougaard, explained, how DTU students are involved in EuroTeQ more broadly, and specifically how the DTU leadership consults, involves and ensures their voice is being heard in all matters in the university decision making bodies. Students at DTU have a true say in EuroTeQ through formal structures and meetings with the university alliance’s Management Board.
2020 DTU Alumni, Sofus Bergholt, who is now working as Product Manager Business Development at Novo Nordisk PharmaTech shared a very personal report. He gave a very engaged speech about his own journey from being a student to becoming the professional he is today; and how initiative, innovative and critical thinking can bring you places, you had never dreamed of. He encouraged the students to look for all kinds of opportunities to get a foot into the engineering labour market, and mentioned his own involvement in the international students exchange organisation Iaeste. This brought him to Serbia and his first encounter with a company job. And it became his way into many different student jobs and internships, before venturing out into the real labour market after graduation. He encouraged to try many different sectors and areas in order to really find out ones passion.
The program also included a speed dating session among students and alumni that led to many new acquaintances. Ideas and opinions were shared and passed on to the DTU staff members present. They hope to have found a concept to use at every semester start, to bring exchange students from the EuroTeQ partner universities in touch with both regular DTU students, the DTU student union PF as well as with DTU alumni representing many different and interesting companies from the local ecosystem.
A TUM Erasmus exchange student expressed appreciation for the concept, “a very good way for exchange students to get to know Denmark and DTU better. We would really like if our university would arrange the same type of events for students to meet alumni and hear about their experiences as professionals. ”
Nicolai Hansen, Innovation Manager at GrowHub, Hempel A/S commented ”I can only say that it was extremely insightful to talk to the exchange students that attended this event. We talked about their journey to Denmark, their career wishes and interests, as well as their respective stages of student life as related to options for collaborating, getting employed as student staff or interns and their interest in writing their Master thesis with our company. Thank you so much to Ulla (Gade Bisgaard) and Christina (Jespersen) for organizing this pilot event”.
