One of Aarhus University's core tasks is to educate graduates for the labour market of the future, as set out in AU’s Strategy 2025. In order to ensure positive interaction between students and the labour market, AU has set a sub-goal to increase the number of business-oriented elements in degree programmes. This binds students closer to the labour market during their studies, while at the same time facilitating graduates' transition to the labour market.
Focus at AU is therefore on giving more students an opportunity to write a Master’s thesis in collaboration with a company or an organisation (thesis collaboration) that the student has contacted and entered into an agreement with. A Master's thesis collaboration is an academic Master's thesis, but because it is written in collaboration with a company, it also gives the student an opportunity to translate theory into practice. It provides good insight into a specific company, an industry and what it means to be in a workplace. The student also strengthens his/her network and gains some personal experience for when they ultimately enter the labour market.
Theses written in collaboration with companies and organisations are anchored at faculty and board of studies level and follow local frameworks and guidelines. Information and guidance aimed at students are therefore available on local study portals.
AU's business initiative provides a single point of access for companies and organisations that want to collaborate with students from Aarhus University – Master's thesis collaborations. Here, companies and organisations can find relevant information regarding various opportunities for collaboration as well as local contact information. There is also the AU Job and Project Bank website, which connects students with employers who want to collaborate on relevant projects.
Educational Development and Analysis prepares an annual topic report in Power BI on students' collaborations with companies and organisations – including Master's thesis collaborations – that supports quality assurance and management information.
