Konkurrenslyftet Begins | 2010 |
“Shadow a Student” was one of many highly appreciated activities during the Konkurrenslyftet project, which was intended to encourage more upper secondary school students to continue their studies at a higher level.
Konkurrenslyftet ran from February 2010 to March 2012. One of its aims was to increase the number of people who apply to a university or university college within three years of having completed their upper secondary school education.
– We wanted to motivate the upper secondary school students by showing them different career opportunities and what to study to get there, says information officer Linda Jensen.
One of the things that Linda and her colleagues did was to arrange “Discover Your Opportunities” days, in cooperation with the municipalities of the region and where students and representatives of both the industry and the municipalities were invited. Another activity was “Shadow a Student”, which gave upper secondary school students the opportunity to shadow a university student for a whole day – including lectures, lunch, studying and any recreational activities.
– Quite a few people participated and found the day rewarding. And it was just as interesting to find out who had realized that university studies were not for them, so that we could focus our efforts in the right direction, Linda observes.
Konkurrenslyftet was a collaboration between the County Administrative Boards in Jämtland and Västernorrland, the Jämtland Regional Council, the Swedish Public Employment Service, Mid Sweden University, the Mid Sweden Chamber of Commerce, the Swedish Federation of Business Owners, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) in Mid North Sweden and the Swedish Confederation for Professional Employees (TCO) in Mid North Sweden. In total, 1,300 people and 150 companies participated in the activities and the results were published in the report Jobbpuls, among other places.