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Career Management Skills
at the University
of Southern Denmark
The University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
has incorporated a course in Career Man-
agement Skills in its study programmes. The
course prepares students for life after grad- course better connects the students, who learn
uation by providing them with the knowl- how to relate and articulate their competencies,
edge and understanding of how to better re- with the labour market.
late their competencies to the needs of the
labour market. Line Krogh-Nielsen, a former student of Career
Management Skills, noted that the course “helped
From the autumn of 2014, the University offered a me as a student to translate the theory I have
pilot course to students on four different Master’s learnt into practice [and] provided me with the tools
programmes. Since then, the course has been ex- to identify what I can offer a company – based on
panded to a large number of study programmes what I have learnt in my study programme”.
in all of the University’s faculties so as to include
elements that focus on future careers in the stu- According to Kim Bæksgaard Hansen, the Academic
dents’ education. The tuition of Career Manage- Coordinator for SDU’s Career Counselling Services,
ment Skills is offered as an elective or is coupled largely all other universities in Denmark have looked
to an internship, both on the bachelors and mas- to the University for inspiration and some universi-
ters level. The University is the first in Denmark ties are now beginning to offer similar courses.
to incorporate Career Management Skills as an
ECTS-accredited course.
Watch a video by SDU and hear more about the
Jacob Krummes, the Head of Department at SDU course in Career Management Skills:
Research and Innovation Organisation (SDU RIO), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwF_PNcabzk
states that “many students do not voluntarily take
advantage of the offers concerning career guid- Sources
ance that we have, so we made it mandatory for all http://www.sdu.dk/en/information_til/studerende_
students to have to reflect on these aspects at one ved_sdu/din_uddannelse/kandidat/cand_merc_
point in their education.” odense/project+and+trainee+period/carreer_man
The course focuses on how students can use their http://www.fyens.dk/modules/mobile/article?arti-
academic knowledge and competencies on the la- cleid=3091125
bour market, for example during internships, and http://magisterbladet.dk/news/2016/november/hu-
teaches them how to network, to create a good manisterpaasdufaarkarrierepaaskemaet
LinkedIn profile and to write CVs and job applica-
tions. The course challenges the students to use Natalie Clausen, Euroguidance Denmark
their knowledge in a practical setting, particularly Kim Bæksgaard Hansen, University of Southern
with a focus on problem-solving. In this way, the Denmark
