5 questions about the Employers' Panels

To make sure that ITU graduates stand out to employers, ITU has set up eight so-called Employers’ Panels (in Danish: aftagerpaneler) during 2015. We sat down with Vice Chancellor Mads Tofte for a chat about what this new initiative means for ITU students.

What are the Employers’ Panels?

The members of the Employers’ Panels are decision-makers in the hiring processes in private and public organisations, so they represent the job market that our graduates will meet. The purpose is to create a direct dialogue between those who hire our graduates and those who are responsible for the content of the study programmes. The aim is, of course, to make sure that our students will learn skills that make them attractive on the job market.      

What do the Employers’ Panels actually do?

The panels create a direct dialogue between those who hire our graduates and those who are responsible for the content of the programmes, the Heads of Programme. 

In the first meetings, the panels discussed the concept of ‘employment tickets’. The idea is that all our graduates must have learned something that is difficult and in demand on the job market. The Heads of Programmes made suggestions and the employers then discussed what they are looking for in applicants. For example, the Software panel decided – not surprisingly – that for our software graduates, it is an employment ticket that they are good at developing software using a modern programming language.

How many panels are there?

A lot! There are seven programme-specific Employers’ Panels with around 10 members each. When the panels are fully implemented, there will be one employer for every 30 students. So our students are pretty well covered!

What do the students get out of the Employers’ Panels?

They can be reassured that ITU cares that they learn skills that they can get a job with once they finish their studies!

What else does ITU do to help students transition to the job market?

We recently met with companies that offer Graduate programmes. These are big companies that hire many new graduates every year. The Heads of our four Master’s programmes presented what skills our graduates have. We then asked the companies how many graduates from each of the four programmes they were interested in hiring in the next year. We got some unexpected answers. For instance, banks were very interested in hiring candidates from Games. The financial sector knows that to attract customers for something as boring as money, they have to offer fun and enjoyable experiences with their products.

The meeting gave us an idea of the demand in the job market. Many of the employers told us they had been very happy with the ITU graduates they have hired. ITU students are most definitely attractive on the job market!

Want to know more about the Employers’ Panels and what they are discussing? Who are the members, and what do they think is important for ITU students to learn in order to find a good job after graduating? Read more here.