Outline
At the Faculty of Humanities, we offer high school classes from Danish high schools can visit us for a day.
Main purpose
The main purpose of this event is to give high school students a taste of what a university is and what we do here. And to demystify higher education and meet the high school students at eye level, so they get a realistic view into the life as a university student.
Length
The length of a visit differs and is dependent of what the specific high schools class requests and how long they travelled to get here. So, the length of a visit can be everything from 2 hours to 5 hours. But the design is the same.
Description
The high school visits will typically consist of 4-5 activities.
1: Welcome presentation
A visit starts with a welcoming presentation from a student guidance officer, where the high school students learn about SDU in general and what a university education looks like. The high school students is also given a few pointers on what to be observant on during their visit – mainly related to where a university differs from high school. The welcome presentation is approx. 20 minutes.
2: Presentations of relevant research
After the welcome presentation there is one or more presentations from SDU researchers on their research. The aim is to choose research that is relevant to the high school students – either based on what the high school teacher requests or what we know is in the high school curriculum. A research presentation is approx. 30 minutes long.
3: Guided tour of campus
A visit also often consists of a tour around campus to show our facilities and give an impression of the everyday life as a student at SDU.
4: Presentation – research or peer-to-peer
Depending on the length of the visit it sometimes also includes (self-paid) lunch, and then afterwards a presentation from another researcher or a presentation from SDU students where they talk about life as a university student and the transition from high school to higher education.
5: Wrap up and questions
If possible, the visit will end with a student guidance officer wrapping up the day, collecting the high school students’ experiences and answering questions.
Most visits are initiated from the high school teachers. They contact the administrative employee on the project and request a visit, and then the staff involved try to plan something that fits the needs and framework of the high school class.
The initiative is formed with inspiration from the design for high school visits made by The Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at SDU.
Goals
We aim to demystify higher education and give the high school students a realistic view of life as a university student and the transition from high school to university. We do this to decrease the gap between expectations and experiences, and hopefully give students who did not think that the university was a possibility for them, the chance to see that it could be.
Students involvement
Students are involved in most of the visits. They give a short talk on student life – both academically and socially – answers questions and talk about their experience with the transition from high school to higher education.
Often it is also students giving the visitors a tour around campus.
Inspiration and evidence
The initiative is formed with inspiration from the design for high school visits made by The Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at SDU.
Success criteria
It is essential that the high school students feel welcome and are met at eye level, and that the presentations are held with the audience in mind.
The presentations should be relevant for the high school students – either with regards to their curriculum or to something otherwise relevant. An example could be research in social media.
Evaluation
We don’t systematically evaluate the initiative, but sometimes the administrative employee get written feedback from the high school teachers.
Communication
We advertise the possibility to visit directly to the high school teachers through relevant newsletters.
Timing
These visits can take place during the entire semester.
Day information
During regular ‘school’ hours.
Resources
Staff involved
An administrative employee in charge of the visits – she handles all requests from high schools, all communication of the initiative and organizes the presentations from researchers.
Researchers – at every visit there is at least one researcher giving a presentation of their research. Most visits have 2 researchers.
A student guidance officer – helps plan the day and are a practical help during the visit, provides the introduction and the closure. The student guidance service also finds and preps SDU students if there are any involved in the visit.
Students – most visits also has one or two students from our faculty involved. They give a talk on student life, answer questions and sometimes also does the tour around campus.
Most visits follow the same design, so when you have made that, you have the framework for all visits. You can also have some premade agreements with a list of researchers willing to participate in the visits, so you only have to reach out to them, when a visit is requested.
There is some planning involved – booking of locations, finding students and researchers who has time to do a presentation. How much time needed depends on the context and the procedures.
What material can be used to learn more and to increase transferability?
Transferability
We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.