DTU’s Honours Programmes will celebrate its five-year anniversary in September. Meet Honours Student Anders, who does not consider himself a member of the student elite.
He took courses at an American college before studying at university and completed MSc courses prior to completing his Bachelor’s degree.
27-year-old Anders Bech Bruntse—who both holds a BSc in International Business from Copenhagen Business School (CBS), and in Biotechnology from DTU—has always been on the up and up. He is currently halfway through his MSc in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology as part of the specialized Honours Programmes.
Among other things, this has taken him to the University of San Diego in California, where he is currently conducting research into optimizing pharmaceutical production in CHO cells in the company of some of the world’s most recognized system biologists—receiving the highest merits.
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Anders Bech Bruntse currently resides in the USA where he is conduction research as a part of his Honours MSc Programme.
During his course of study, Anders used a phone alarm, for example, to remind him when he could go home for dinner—and he has needed the support of friends throughout, even though he has not always had time to be with them.
The sacrifices and effort are nothing, however, compared with the possibilities I’ve been given,” he says. Currently, he is writing the first of a series of scientific articles. He has applied for his first patent, and every morning he cycles off into the American sunshine to get more of what really motivates him: Challenges.
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‘Elite’, however, is not a label he likes to attribute to himself. For him, his merits are simply an expression of proactivity— that he simply has to seek out new challenges. That is why he is an Honours Student.
DTU’s Honours Programmes
DTU offers Honours Programmes on all its MSc study programmes. Elite study programmes, where students are offered especially challenging courses. Honours students are assigned an internationally recognized researcher and a personal supervisor throughout the entire MSc programme, and attached to one or more research projects.
Honours students are also given an individual study plan which can be adjusted to match their interests within the general framework of the study programme. It is this individualized study plan that has given Anders the opportunity to research his way to ECTS points.
“DTU’s primary goal is to educate the best engineers possible. Our Honours Programmes give those students with the desire and skills the opportunity to fully exploit their potential,” says Trine Eltang, Head of Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs.
Dinner alarm
Honours places are not handed out at the door—an average BSc grade of 10 and documentation of extraordinary performance are the minimum requirements. Only 10 per cent of MSc students can be admitted to an Honours Programme and achieving this goal requires discipline and clear prioritization.
Article from DTUavisen No. 7, September 2014.