Study internship

Main idea

Outline

Study internship is a national initiative not exclusive to SDU but to all higher educational institutions in DK.

At most institutions study internship lasts for 3 days, but at SDU it is only 2 days. This description is of how we organize it at The Faculty of Humanities at SDU.

The main purpose
The main purpose of study internship is to give potential new students a taste of what university is and what to expect if they choose to study at a university in general and at a specific programme.

The aim is that it reduces the gap between expectations and reality, but also that it demystifies what a university is and leaves the interns with the belief that they have what it takes to get a university degree.

Description
For two days the interns follow classes, does assignments, and meets researchers, students, student guidance officers and other staff along with the other interns.

In 2022 there was a total of 1398 study interns at SDU – 302 of them were interns at The Faculty of Humanities.

The high school students are greeted by students from SDU – they are placed at the central station in Odense, at the tram stations and at all entrances to SDU. The study interns can ride in public transportation in Odense for free during their internship.

The study interns are offered a free stay at a hotel near the central station in Odense during their internship. They also get free lunch during the day – some students also get free breakfast. But they have to pay for their own dinner. In the afternoon and evening they can attend a walk & talk around Odense, a presentation on how to find student accommodation in Odense and the ‘afterstudy’ event at a local street food area, where there is arranged some entertainment and a quiz.

Every programme organizes the internship themselves, so the activities and content of the internship can vary a lot.

Two events that are the same for all internships at the Faculty of Humanities
At The Faculty of Humanities, we have two events in the programme that are the same for all interns: A joint welcome hosted by the student guidance office and a presentation from the student guidance office at some point during the two days.

The welcome presentation at the Faculty of Humanities
At the welcome presentation the interns learn about SDU in general, what a university is, what the study internship is and how to get the most of it.

Then a staff member from the admission team talks about the admission process and student assistants pitch the ‘afterstudy’-activity.

A presentation from the student guidance office
At the student guidance office presentation, the topic is: “What is a degree in Humanities and what can you do with it?”. Here the interns learn about the structure of a humanistic bachelor’s degree at SDU, the difference between a university education vs. an education in applied science and what to expect if they choose a humanistic bachelor’s degree.

During the presentation the interns are challenged on the apprehension that they are supposed to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives, and that their educational choice therefore is life-defining. They are introduced to 21^st century skills and through an exercise it is exemplified that people with a background in humanities helps solve important and complex problems in our society.

The presentation ends with points on what a smart choice is (choose an education you find meaningful, important, and interesting to get the most out of it) and then some alignment of expectations if they should choose to apply for a bachelor at SDU.

Goals

We wish for the high school student to make a more informed decision upon applying for a degree with the hope that it reduces the gap between expectations and reality and therefore increases their chance for succeeding. We also wish to send the high school students back with a good experience, the sense of efficacy and belonging and the motivation to come back.

Target group

• Students from non-academic backgrounds
• Students experiencing socioeconomic obstacles
• Students experiencing geographical obstacles

Obstacles targetted:

• Cultural differences
• Geographical obstacles
• Social obstacles

Students involvement

Students are involved as employees – study mentors/academic advisors and the student assistances are students themselves, and they play a big part in the event.

Inspiration and evidence

It is a national initiative, that we have obliged on participating in.

Success criteria

That the interns feel welcome and that the programmes have planned something relevant and meaningful for them, that doesn’t scare them away but intrigues them.

The alignment of expectations is also an important part of the study internship. The interns are here to get a sense of what a university is and if they want to make it their next step on their educational journey.

Points of attention

Because many of the bachelor programmes here at SDU are dual subject programmes there are some thoughts about, that it could be an improvement to the study internship if the interns could visit two programmes during their internship instead of just one. The argument at the moment is, that there aren’t enough time for that, because the internship only lasts for two days at SDU.

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

Would you recommend this to other institutions?

agree

Evaluation

The initiative is evaluated – the forms are made from the national unit, and every programme are responsible for that the interns evaluate as a part of their internship.

The interns are asked if they feel more informed on their education choice. In 2022 87,83% of them answered that they did.

They are asked if they were confirmed in their assumption on wanting to apply for a higher education, and here also 87,83 % of them answered, that yes, they want to apply for higher education.

The study interns are asked which element of the study internship (the academic part) they valued the most.

• To hear about the education structure and the academic content (76,19 %)
• Experiencing the classes (66,67%)
• Meeting the students and hearing about their every day life as a student (62,43%)
• To hear about career options (44,44%)
• To hear about the social life as a student (student associations, what the city has to offer etc.) (32,28%)
• To hear about the practical things about being a student (moving, housing, economy etc.) (28,04%)
• A tour around campus (19,58%)

We use the evaluation to improve the study internship and sharpen our focus in planning the days.

Communication

We advertise it on our central webpage sdu.dk, but most of the communication/advertisement is handled outside of SDU.

The students involved from SDU is employed by the central administration at SDU.

Timing

The study internship is held every year the same week in October – it’s the same week all over Denmark.

Day information

After regular ‘school’ hours.

Resources

Study internship is nationally managed by a group gathered between a national guidance unit called ‘Studievalg’ and two Danish educational institutions. SDU is one of them.

A lot of staff is involved in this throughout SDU.
The planning starts in April and the event takes place in October.

Staff involved
There is a lot of administrative staff involved in the event. It is staff members from the central administration and staff from every faculty. Every faculty has their own coordinator, who coordinates internally at the faculty.

So, at The Faculty of Humanities there is one administrative coordinator.

At every programme there is a Head of Studies and a study secretary. They decide how many internships they can offer, and then they plan the programme for the internship at their programme.

Many of the programmes also have a study mentor/academic advisor who is a student at the programme but is also employed to guide the students. At the days of the study internships most of the study mentors/academic advisors play a big part in the execution of the study internships. Their role differs from programme to programme.

There are also 3-4 student guidance officers involved – as earlier described they host the welcome and do a presentation on all the programmes.

The central administration employs several student assistances that mainly serves as practical help during the study internship – guiding, handing out tickets to the public transportation, handing out lunch etc. and then in the planning and execution of the ‘afterstudy’ activities.

There is some shared expenses connected to study internship that all the participating institutions contributes to – depending on the size of the institution and how many interns they had. But there are also a lot of other expenses more locally – food, salaries, materials etc.

Extra information

• Study internships general webpage

Report from 2022 (in Danish): https://koordinering-af-studiepraktik.eaaa.dk/media/0zap2ixg/studiepraktik-arsrapport-2022.pdf

Transferability

We think it is quite easily transferable to other contexts or groups.

Specific for the context
It is important to state, that the study internship is a national initiative created in a cooperation between several educational institutions and a national guidance unit in Denmark.