Aarhus University's 4,000 engineering students are in high demand. This is especially noticeable during the internship days, where companies fill the university's corridors with colourful stands, sweets, cakes and good internship opportunities as they try to capture the attention of all the students.

The internship days took place at the university's engineering departments on 25 September and 4 October, and a total of 136 companies – including both global tech giants and small startups – participated over the two days to present specific internship and project opportunities to engineering students in areas such as civil and architectural engineering, software technology, electrical energy technology and mechanical engineering.

"For us, the days are a great opportunity to meet the students and present our work. We have great respect for the students' input, and we look forward to learning from them as well. At the same time, they have an opportunity to dive into an exciting field and get professional support and sparring," said IT specialist Brian Danielsen, who represented Det Uafhængige Tilsyn med Bevismidler (the Independent Supervisory Authority of Evidence) and the Independent Police Complaints Authority, who participated in the event for the first time.

The consulting engineering company Sweco was also at the event and hoped to get their hands on one or more interns aiming to specialize in infrastructure:

"We have to make ourselves attractive to get an intern. When I talk to the students, I make a point of saying that if they don't choose me for their internship place, that doesn’t mean they’ve turned their back on me. They can always contact me later," said Stinne Grøndal, Team Manager at Sweco.

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Innovation, growth and careers

The internship days are recurring events aiming to match engineering interns with tech companies.

They are informal events that give Bachelor of Engineering students an opportunity to meet companies before they go on an internship or write a Bachelor's project. The days serve as a kind of platform at which the visiting companies present current challenges and gain new perspectives from students, who bring fresh knowledge from their education.

This helps to create innovation and growth in small and large companies, in both the public and private sectors.

And for the students, the event represent the first step in their careers. Their meeting with the companies provides an opportunity to gain insight into the specific tasks and challenges they may be part of in the future, and the students also gain valuable contacts that can lead to internships.

"I hope to find a company where I can realise more than the semester projects allow. I want to be part of a larger project and feel that I have an important role," said engineering student Jonas Just Hansen, who is on the 4th semester of an electrical energy technology programme. He is looking for an internship for the next semester, and he dreams of being able to apply what he has learned during his studies in a larger context.

Third-semester health technology student Therese Cecilie Mørup Kjeldsen was also there to talk to companies, even though she is not about to do an internship, and she was surprised at how many companies wanted to talk about her future as a health technology student:

"Today, I've spoken to several IT companies that also have internships for health technology students, so I'm pleasantly surprised at how many opportunities are open to me," she said.

Internships lead to permanent employment

For Stinne Grøndahl, the internship is worth its weight in gold for the companies, but it is also important for the students, who have to learn how to navigate a workplace and prioritize their tasks:

"I think we can give them a robustness. The interns are incredibly skilled academically. But they need to go out and feel what it means to be in a workplace with colleagues, project managers, managers and customers. They’ll sit with projects and find that things don’t always go according to plan, or that you have several deadlines at the same time. How do you prioritize and how do you communicate if you can't make it?" she said.

For the vice-dean for education at Aarhus University's Faculty of Technical Sciences, Finn Borchsenius, the event is a good opportunity to say hello to the many companies and network. It is also an eye-opener to how sought-after Danish engineering students are:

"It's great to witness the dialogue between the students and the companies. Many interviews lead to internships, which over time can become long-term employment relationships. It was interesting to see and hear how the companies are trying to capture the students' interest with different approaches," he said.

The internship days take place twice a year, in the spring and autumn, at Navitas on Aarhus Docklands and at Katrinebjerg. The three engineering institutes that together are responsible for the days are: the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and the Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering.