DTU’s MSc graduates are very satisfied with their education. The same goes for their employers. These are the findings of a new study from Damvad Analytics which has studied the views of both graduates and employers on DTU’s MSc programmes.
MSc graduates from DTU are in high demand. A new study from Damvad Analytics shows that 85 per cent of the graduates have landed jobs within six months of completing their studies. And that 42 per cent had jobs before they graduated.
The survey also shows that among the participating 1,332 graduates, 97 per cent believe that their study programme is of a high quality, while 94 per cent state that it lived up to their expectations. In addition, 86 per cent think that their study programme matches the requirements they face in the labour market.
Martin Bendsøe, Dean of Graduate Studies and International Affairs, is pleased with the figures, and says that DTU through many years has worked hard to ensure high quality in the teaching:
“That’s why I'm sometimes a bit puzzled about the media’s debate on quality. We simply cannot recognize the picture being painted in the media here at DTU, where we have a well-functioning quality assurance system to ensure that we work highly professionally on training new engineers to the benefit of society.”
"We have to be in close contact with the employers to ensure that our study programmes are constantly aligned with the needs of the companies and society."
Martin P. Bendsøe, Senior Vice President and Dean of Graduate Studies and International Affairs
The graduates that were still not in jobs when they responded to the survey, emphasized, in particular, lack of work experience and fierce competition for jobs as the causes of unemployment.
Employers know what they are getting
The survey from Damvad Analytics also includes employers, primarily large companies in the private sector, which employ graduates from DTU.
In the survey, they point out, among other things, that graduates from DTU has strong engineering competencies that enable them to independently decode complex tasks and identify valuable solutions. It is also their experience that DTU graduates are good at working together—also across disciplines—and that their competencies are directly applicable in their jobs and help to maintain a high level of expertise in the workplace.
However, some employers request greater understanding of and focus on project management, something which is backed by the graduates themselves. Other employers consider core academic disciplines as essential as they themselves may provide further training for the graduates if needed.
Martin Bendsøe is very satisfied with the employers’ assessment of graduates from DTU and emphasizes that the work on improving the match between DTU’s study programmes and the labour market’s expectations and requirements is an area in constant focus:
“We have to be in close contact with the employers to ensure that our study programmes are constantly aligned with the needs of the companies and society. We are therefore committed to ensuring that we offer our students good opportunities to study abroad. We know that the experience they get through research and student project collaborations with universities and businesses around the world helps to make them better engineers who can operate in many different contexts.”
A previous study from 2012 showed that 19 per cent of the responding graduates had studies abroad on their programme. This figure has now increased to 25 per cent.
Among them, 98 per cent state that they benefitted personally from their study period abroad and that they, among other things, had boosted their professional and personal competencies. And this is something which is appreciated by employers, where particularly internationally oriented companies give high priority to cultural understanding, the ability to cooperate across nationalities, and good language skills when hiring new candidates.