Successful week long study visit shows close collaboration with industry
During four intense weeks, the around 100 new students in the programme Industrial Technology (Industriell teknik), got the opportunity to meet companies and their employees, go on field trips, and learn all about the program's four different profiles. It turned out to be a great idea, even in the first week.
One of the key activities in the new programme Industriell teknik , is week-long visits to the programme's partner companies. These visits reflect the programme's four profiles – industrial reliability, sustainable production, climate-smart energy supply, and materials for circular flows.
"The goal of the profile weeks is to help students find the specialisation that suits them early on in their studies. They also gain a better understanding of the entire program and the close collaboration with industry," says programme director Bengt Wittgren .
First out was a week at AstraZeneca. The second profile week was hosted by Scania on the theme Sustainable Production. It was a content-rich week for the approximately 100 students, who attended lectures on Scania's operations and visited their engine, transmission, chassis, and battery production facilities.
The students were also given a task related to sustainable production to solve during the week, and at the concluding seminar on Friday, they presented their solutions. Afterwards, they had the opportunity to mingle with Scania engineers of about the same age, who had recently completed their studies at KTH, and who answered questions about sustainable production, the role of an engineer, and what it is like to work at Scania as a first job after graduation.
Scania reported being positively surprised by the engaged and inquisitive students during the introduction week, and the company now hopes to recruit some of them after they complete their studies.
Course evaluations show that the week was highly appreciated by the students as well.
"They were very positive, clearly stating that this was the best part of the programme so far," says Bengt Wittgren. "This encourages us to continue with the profile weeks and try to involve even more companies next year."
The third study visit will be to Stockholm Exergi. The fourth profile week includes guest lectures from Sandvik, Alleima and SSAB.