Outline
The primary school internship is a recruitment initiative, where pupils from primary schools in Southern Denmark can try what it’s like to study at SDU.
The internship is offered at The Faculty of Science and at the engineering programmes. This is a description of the internship at The Faculty of Science.
Up until now the internship at The Faculty of Science has had a length of five days. From 2023 it has been cut down to three days. There are 23-25 participants every year.
Background
The internship as an organized initiative emerged from an increasing demand from pupils from primary schools taking contact themselves. So instead of setting up several minor internships it was decided to collect it to one yearly internship period.
Who organizes/is involved
At every academic institute on The Faculty of Science there is an outreach coordinator. They coordinate the courses during the internship.
The overall project management is handled by one staff member from communications. And as something new there is now also a student assistant involved in the internship.
During the internship several students and staff members are involved. The student guidance office from The Faculty of Science welcomes the interns, students give a guided tour on campus, talk about life as a student and the academic staff participates with lectures, workshops and show and tells.
Goals
The concrete goal is to give potential students a more informed foundation to build their future educational choices on.
Students involvement
There is a student assistant involved in the project management, and several students are involved in the execution of the internship. They are tour guides and informs the interns about student life.
Inspiration and evidence
The internship as an organized initiative emerged from an increasing demand from pupils from primary schools taking contact themselves. So instead of setting up several minor internships it was decided to collect it to one yearly internship period.
Success criteria
The internship is successful because we bring together young people with an interest in the natural sciences and offer relevant internships.
Points of attention
Every year we turn down potential participants due to limited laboratory facilities. As a result, we consider offering two editions of the internship.
Evaluation
Yes, the initiative is evaluated via forms with the participants.
They are asked to answer the questions:
- How much time did you spend on transportation to and from SDU?
- Which of the scientific programmes are you mainly interested in?
- Which of the activities from the internship did you like the best?
- Are you considering applying for a scientific bachelor’s degree when you finish your secondary education?
- Are you considering applying for an education at SDU, when you finish your secondary education?
- Did your impression of SDU as an educational institution change after the internship?
- Will you recommend to others to participate in the internship?
- Did the internship live up to your expectations?
In the evaluation from 2022 the responses from the participants were positive. They especially liked the scientific features from the internship and were not as interested in the activities with the students and guidance counsellors.
They all consider applying for a scientific bachelor’s degree when they finish their secondary education.
Communication
The event is communicated to the local student guidance teams in the regions of Southern Denmark. They have guidance sessions with the pupils from primary schools and therefore informs them about the internship offer.
There are also made posters that gets distributed to the primary schools in Southern Denmark.
Timing
The primary school internship is held every year in October or November.
Day information
During regular ‘school’ hours.
Resources
Staff involved in the coordinating parts:
- Outreach coordinators from the academic institutes at The Faculty of Science
- A staff member from the communication department
- A student assistant
Staff involved in the internship days: Academic staff with lectures.
During the internship several students and staff members are involved. The student guidance office from The Faculty of Science welcomes the interns, students give a guided tour on campus, talk about life as a student and the academic staff participates with lectures, workshops and show and tells.
Transferability
We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.