Column by Anders Overgaard Bjarklev, President at DTU, and Per Bruun Brockhoff, President at ITU. Published in Børsen on 23 September 2024.
More people want in; more people get out. This is how the problem of a huge shortage of engineering and IT graduates in the business world could be solved if politicians wanted to. The programmes are among the most sought-after this summer, and many students are being offered jobs even before they graduate.
However, due to the master's degree reform, it will be much more challenging to get into an engineering or IT programme.
On average, universities must reduce student intake by 10 per cent. The political agreement states that universities such as ITU and DTU, with the lowest unemployment rates, will have to make the smallest reductions. But in practice, the reduction will be noticeable.
At DTU, 132 fewer students will be admitted in 2025 compared to 2023, a reduction of 9.5 per cent. At ITU, there will be 39 fewer study places in 2025 compared to 2023, a reduction of 10.1 per cent. With these reductions come stricter entry requirements. And with stricter entry requirements comes a narrowing of the field. We risk creating what politicians have fought against for years: programmes for the few. For the elite.
A new report from Kraka Economics, conducted for the engineering association IDA, also shows what the reductions will cost society; all warning lights should come on at Christiansborg (the Danish parliament, ed.): Denmark will be DKK 41 billion poorer by 2050 if the political agreement is implemented as planned. If the natural science and technical programmes were exempt from the reduction, the loss would be 40 per cent less, according to Politiken on Friday.
In Berlingske, DI's Deputy Director Mikkel Haarder adds one of the underlying explanations for the enormous economic loss: With the master's degree reform, Denmark will have fewer graduates in the areas where labour is most needed, namely engineering and IT.
Progress for STEM
An analysis by Iris Group for DTU shows that in 2030, there will be short of between 17,000-21,000 staff with a technical higher education in companies in Eastern Denmark alone. This includes engineers and IT specialists.
This highly specialized workforce is needed to make the green transition a reality. To digitize and optimize our society. And to develop the entire life science sector, where the growth potential is enormous according to the analysis.
It's a problem that has existed for a long time and is why politicians have struggled for years to get young people interested in STEM subjects, which cover science, technology, engineering, and maths. Millions of Danish kroner have been invested in making IT and the technical sciences appealing and accessible to everyone.
This year, we could truly see the fruits of that. The report on the total number of applications to the country's long-term higher education programmes from the Ministry of Higher Education and Science showed a general increase in the number of applicants to IT and STEM programmes.
Among these, the Bachelor of Engineering programme was the most popular in the country, with 4,467 first-priority applications, and ITU had its highest ever number of applicants in 2024.
Roll back the reductions
However, no one will get to reap the fruits of years of labour.
Instead, STEM programmes will have to turn away hundreds of hopeful applicants. Not because they lack the qualifications. Not because we are training for unemployment. But because politicians have decided so.
At the IT University of Copenhagen, more than 600 qualified first priority applicants could have been offered a study place this year if there had been no restrictions on admissions and if there had been funding for increased admissions. Similar figures apply to DTU.
From a societal perspective, it's hard to see who wins from the plans to reduce STEM study places. Hundreds of qualified young people will have their dreams dashed. The business community will face an increased labour shortage. Politicians go against their own visions and create programmes for the elite. Society becomes poorer.
If you want to avoid everyone losing out, you can start by rolling back the planned dimensioning of ITU and DTU. The argument in favour of continuing is hard to find.
