One former student who KTP helped to enter directly into employment is Elin Hedman Eriksson from Rättvik. Her university degree in industrial economics took her to Dalakraft in Leksand.
"It feels great, really good! When I graduated, I looked around for work, and many of the positions required a few years of work experience before you could even get to the interview stage. Then this opportunity arose, and it was fantastic," explains Elin Hedman Eriksson.
KTP is a collaborative project between Dalarna University/the University of Gävle and business and indsutry. By the end of 2018, it will have worked with close to 50 companies, employed 50 project leaders, had senior direction from 50 supervisors and worked with 50 coaches.
Thursday was an opportunity to present projects as well as plans and the vision for the future. There was great interest in attending, with close to 100 representatives from various organisations and institutes of higher education in attendance.
"KTP is important both for companies and universities, and it feels really good to be able to demonstrate the positive results we have achieved," states Johan Kostela, Developmental Leader for KTP.
KTP began in 2012 at Dalarna University as a pilot project and has come to be a model for collaboration by universities. The target group is new graduates, and the project involves graduates being employed from six months up to two years in a position that matches their respective programme of study. While in the position, the graduate receives suport from a university supervisor and a coach from business and industry.
For Elin Hedman Eriksson, KTP meant her being able to remain in Dalarna and to gain full-time employment at Dalakraft.
"I immediately became a project leader for a development project at Dalakraft. With help from the university, we framed what we were going to look at and which area would be developed," she explains.
What do you think has made KTP so successful?
"Its design. It is an opportunity for both the project leader and company to grow while receiving both help and support from university representatives and representatives from business and industry," she further explains.
See more informaton about KTP (webpage).