Growth4SMEs is an EU-funded project aimed at helping students into working life. The project is a collaboration between UC Leuven-Limburg in Belgium, the Faculty of Arts at Aarhus University in Denmark and the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.
At the closing conference on April 27 2023, the results of the project were presented, and current topics related to academia and working life were discussed. In addition, HF students shared their experiences as participants in the project’s case competitions.
Case competitions – an important part of the project
Sunna Simma, Master’s degree student in political communication, Truls de Lange, Bachelor’s degree student in European languages and Amalie Bloch Helmers, Bachelor’s degree student in history, talked about how, in collaboration with other students, they solved specific problems for different companies.
“My group's task was to create a business plan and online content for a company that produces handbags from recycled materials. We created a visual profile, identified customer groups and set up a website describing the company's products, message and sustainability strategy,” says Simma.
She is one of 89 HF students who participated in the project's case competitions.
Simma says that she benefited from the skills she has acquired as an HF student when solving the assignment.
“I got to use my knowledge of strategic communication and sustainability. Working with the website's text and image content for instance, I used various rhetorical tools that I have learned during my studies.”
About the project
Growth4SMEs (Graduate Ongoing Workqualification Towards offering Highly qualified skills for SMEs), is a collaborative project between UC Leuven-Limburg in Belgium, Aarhus municipality and the Faculty of Arts at Aarhus University in Denmark and the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.
The purpose has been to establish contact between businesses and students, and between academia and working life.
In addition, the project has aimed at making students aware of the competence they possess, in order to ensure that more graduates start their careers soon after completing their studies.
Among other things, the project has arranged case competitions where students have solved and advised specific tasks and issues for businesses.
Useful with expertise from the humanities
Truls de Lange's group was tasked with developing a digital solution to help museums and tourist services gain more visibility and publicity. Like Simma, he feels he was able to showcase and use his skills in the competition.
“As a humanities student, you learn some valuable work methods, as well as how to look at things in a broader context and see connections. I put this to good use in my work,” he says.
Amalie Bloch Helmers is a first-year history student at HF. Despite her short experience at the university, she benefited greatly from participating in the case competition.
“In a competition like this, you are forced to use and share the knowledge you have to solve the task. Since participating, I have become more confident and feel more comfortable sharing my ideas with others. It was a unique experience,” she says.
Simma, de Lange and Helmers were all participants in the group that won the competitions they participated in. Truls De Lange asserts that the most important thing was to participate.
“Even if one winner is chosen, there are no losers in this competition. Whatever the result, it is a unique opportunity to gain experiences and insights about oneself and one's own qualities.”
Case competitions as a teaching tool
In addition to students and businesses, teachers from the collaborating universities have been an active part of the project.
They have supervised the students during the competitions and served as judges of the groups' work.
Eirik Welo is one of the teachers involved in the project. He is excited and amazed by the students' efforts.
“I'm impressed by their ability to work quickly on complex tasks and the way they interacted with each other, regardless of their backgrounds in different disciplines,” he says.
Welo points out that the HF students managed to adapt to the format.
Based on experiences from the project, he is open to integrating elements from the case competitions into his teaching.
“The format shows that teaching can be organised in a more student-active, task-oriented way. I plan to use elements from the competition in my own teaching and as a head of studies, I would encourage others at the department to learn more about the format.”
Welo also sees other advantages to the case competition:
“It can be a useful tool for reducing the gap between academia and working life.”
Connecting with working life
The background for the Growth4SMEs project was to connect students and businesses and get more students into work after graduation.
“We were interested in finding out what skills are in demand in small and medium-sized enterprises and how we can equip our students with knowledge beyond their field of study,” says Katrine Solvang Larsen, Project Manager for Growth4SMEs and Adviser at Aarhus University in Denmark.
“We thought that the project could help the students in getting a job once they finish university.”
Larsen says that making the students aware of their own competence was a clear goal of the project.
“My experience is that case competitions give the students insight into what they know and how competent they are. I think finding that you can solve a specific task for a potential employer is very useful.”
This is confirmed by Truls de Lange:
“By participating in the competition, I am much more aware of the qualities I possess, both as an individual and as a participant in a team,” he says.
Katrine Solvang Larsen also points out that the project has provided value to the teachers participating in the competitions.
“They have gained first-hand knowledge of what skills employers are seeking. These are experiences they can use when planning their teaching going forward,” she says.
Focus on interdisciplinarity
Earlier this spring, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research presented the white paper ‘Utsyn over kompetansebehov i Norge’. The paper outlined the Government's policy to meet the skills demand of the future.
The paper points out that the ability to collaborate in an interdisciplinary manner will be an important competence in the years to come.
Interdisciplinarity has been a significant aspect of Growth4SME's case competitions. The students have worked in diverse groups across disciplines and fields of study.
Truls de Lange describes the interdisciplinary collaboration as a particularly valuable experience.
“It has always been a mantra for me that two heads are better than one. This takes on an additional dimension when everyone has unique expertise from different disciplines. When we worked on the task, we benefited from everyone's knowledge and worked as a single unit,” he says.
In Amalie Bloch Helmer's group, there were students from both history and information technology. The fact that the participants came from different disciplines gave an extra sense of confidence in their work, she says.
“I found it reassuring to collaborate with students from other disciplines, especially considering that the task we had to solve depended on technological solutions.”
Sunna Simma believes that cooperation across disciplines is crucial for finding good solutions in the future.
“I believe interdisciplinarity is essential for solving major challenges. When we work together, we can find innovative ideas and develop products that can contribute to the green transition.”
Recording of the closing conference
- Welcome: Gunn Enli, Vice Dean of Studies, The Faculty of Humanities, UiO (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 1: The academic force field, Niels Overgaard Lehmann (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 2: Student-active learning and assessment strategies, Arnt Maasø (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 3: Student panel (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 4: Blended intensive learning and other opportunities for international cooperation in education, Vidar Pedersen and Benedikte Fjellanger Vardøy (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 5: «Utsynsmeldingen» – The Norwegian Ministery of Education White paper on future skills and competences, panel dialog with Bjørn Stensaker, Vice-Rector for Education at The University of Oslo, Ane Ohrvik, Head of Teaching at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the Faculty of Humanities and Gunn Enli (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 6: Building skills for a sustainable future, Heidrun Reisæter (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Session 7: Panel dialog with business employers (Heidrun Reisæter. Director of technology NAV; Andreas Forfang, Sustainability and Public Policy Manager Vianode; Klaus Mikkelsen, Partner/Architect - AART and Trine Syversten, IMK, HF (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)
- Closing remarks: Gunn Enli and Niels Overgaard Lehmann (uio.cloud.panopto.eu)