By providing a case-based problem to a university student who is doing a project assignment, you gain both fresh perspectives on your organisation and the specific challenge, as well as an approach that is not influenced by the way you usually view challenges.
The student must illuminate and solve the organisation’s challenge based on a theoretical and methodological foundation. This means that the student bases their work on the latest academic theories, models, and analytical tools they have learned during their studies.
A project collaboration cannot be equated with employing a student assistant, as the student must primarily meet the academic requirements of their degree programme.
Every year, 30-40 companies enter into project collaborations with Master’s students from the Faculty of Science. The companies are often from the IT or robotics industries, manufacturing companies, biotech companies, municipalities, or government agencies. The students study subjects such as Mathematics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or Biomedicine.
By collaborating on a project with a science student, your company gains a fresh perspective on a selected topic. The student brings the latest scientific theories, methods, and research – and contributes to solving specific and concrete problems.
A company project is a learning process that is part of a Master’s degree programme – it is not an employment relationship.
As a project company, you must ensure that the student undertakes tasks that provide knowledge and understanding of practical conditions and methods related to scientific or related issues. The tasks must be academically relevant and should be considered as one cohesive project.
The placement with you should also help develop the student’s creativity, independence, collaboration skills, and general academic competences.
The project must result in a written project report from the student, which will be assessed as part of their degree.
Depending on the student’s degree programme, a company project involves approximately 250, 375, or 750 working hours, including the time the student spends writing the project report.
750 -hours projects are always organised as full-time work, while projects of 250 or 375 working hours are generally organised as part-time work, as the student simultaneously attends classes at university.
In most Master’s programmes at the Faculty of Science, company projects are typically done from February to May, with the project report due by 1 June. However, in the Biology programme, 750-hour company projects are always done from September to December, with the project report due by 1 January.
The student is generally expected to work on a continuous project throughout the project period. This work should be supplemented with ongoing ad hoc tasks similar to those of the company’s employees. It is also expected that the student participates in departmental meetings and other staff activities.
You appoint a contact person (external supervisor) who can introduce the student to the company and provide guidance and assistance throughout the project. The supervisor from the company should be someone with an academic background, working in the same department to which the student is assigned.
During the project period, the student follows your normal working hours and the rules that apply to your employees in general, or as agreed upon between you and the student.
The student must not receive a salary during the project period.
However, as a project company, you are allowed to give the student an optional gratuity as an appreciation for their time at the company. The student may receive a maximum amount equivalent to no more than DKK 3,000 per month.
Additionally, you may reimburse the student’s documented and necessary additional expenses during their time at the company – for example, transport costs between the student’s residence and the company, phone bills, or double rent.
In relation to the project contract, there are legal conditions that protect both the company and the student against breach of contract
If you wish, you also have the option to ask the student and the supervisor from SDU to sign a confidentiality agreement.
You are obliged to ensure that the student is insured against work-related accidents and similar incidents during the project collaboration.
Start planning early. For example, if you want to collaborate with student on a company project during the spring semester, you should contact SDU at the beginning of the autumn.
Write a description of the company project with information about the company and the department to which the student will be assigned, as well as your idea for a continuous project and other academic challenges that the student will work on. Is the project full-time or part-time?
Determine what you are willing to offer the student in terms of reimbursement for documented necessary additional expenses.
Examples of previous project topics
- Development and automation of customer support
- Investigation of chemical foam for fire-retardant coatings
- Data processing of drones
- Prediction of bond price direction and trends using decision tree-based algorithms
- Establishment and communication of natural areas
- Further development of extraction and analysis methods for PE-phenols in drinking water
- Development of cDNA synthesis kit
- Use of artificial intelligence in the preparation of fire safety documentation
- Technical investigation of wetlands
- Development of genetic analysis panel and SWP identification
- Research in fermentation and microbiology in brewing
- Creating forecasts to plan and optimise in a large Danish company
- Environmental consulting within green transition focusing on sustainable solutions
- Working with machine learning and artificial intelligence to predict events in emerging markets
- Identification of leading indicators for economic performance for contractors in the construction industry
Contact us
Student Counsellor Simone Louise Sørensen
Phone: +45 6550 2851
E-mail: studyscience@sdu.dk
Outreach Partner Manuel Kehrer
Phone: +45 6550 4610
E-mail: make@sdu.dk
The Master’s thesis is the final project of a Master’s degree programme.
In most Master’s programmes at the Faculty of Science, the Master’s thesis project has a scope 60 ECTS credits and constitutes the entire second year of the programme. Typically, the project starts in September, with a submission deadline of 1 June the following year. However, there are also many students who start working their Master’s thesis in February, with a submission deadline of 1 January the following year.
In certain cases, the Master’s thesis project can be combined with a preceding company project.