Jakob Williams Ørberg, jwo@edu.au.dk, Aarhus University, November 23, 2015
Policy Brief exercise with Agnete Vabø and Bjørn Stensaker – UNIKE Winter School 2015
Submitted by Jakob Williams Ørberg – please don’t circulate or otherwise distribute content without
coordinating with me.
Danish-Indian internship program (intended for DK ministry of research)
Aim
A Danish-Indian internship program based on a Danish university-industry consortium will deepen DanishIndian relations, built knowledge of Danish companies and universities and the best Indian engineering
universities. It will assist the propelling of Danish companies and universities into the global market for talent.
The program will:
 ensure access to graduates from the best Indian engineering colleges in Danish companies and universities
 expand the knowledge about Danish companies and universities at the best Indian engineering colleges
 embed Danish companies and universities in networks of future technological and business leaders globally
Context
Danish companies in India, Danish companies in Denmark and the Danish universities have been unable to
secure sufficient access to the best of the Indian engineering talent. They are absent in the placement
processes at the Indian Institutes of Technology and other excellent institutions as well as remaining
anonymous and of the radar for research talents from these institutions when looking for postgraduate
opportunities globally.
Danish companies, usually smaller compared to MNC recruiters, have been vary of engaging with the best
students due to fear of problematic retention rates, increased salary spread, and poor match between career
expectations and company offers. Some Danish companies – notably Haldor Topsøe – have due to long
engagement in India maintained a fairly strong connection with some universities while not being able to
engage fully with the universities as an institutional partner.
Danish universities have in general been unable to profile themselves at top Indian engineering universities in
competition with especially North American, British, German and French universities.
Indian engineering universities are expanding rapidly, while struggling to become more central players in Indina
and global industrial development. Many departments at even the best Indian engineering universities lack
deep industry relations and industry engagement in teaching and research development. Furthermore, the
internship and placement units often offer low diversity in both placement and internship offers. Indian
engineering students often lack access to attractive internships domestically and abroad, and there are only
few interesting internships in core engineering streams. University internships are often expensive for the
students to engage in.
Jakob Williams Ørberg, jwo@edu.au.dk, Aarhus University, November 23, 2015
Matching Indian and Danish needs and capabilities
India: Mobilizing the capabilities of the IIT system (see [imagined] appendix for main features of IIT system)
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Indian Institutes of Technology and a few private engineering universities, notably Bits Pilani are famously
selective with admission rates (depending on calculation) as low as one percent for their undergraduate
programs
B.Tech. graudates are hired by global employers and fast growing Indian technology start-ups for
technology management career tracks, but careers in finance and consulting dominate student aspirations
and dominate the placement process at the institutes
Engineering graduates from especially IITs form a powerful global network both within the successful and
influential Indian diaspora and among decision makers in Indian industries and public sector
IITians are seen in both North America and South Asia as a quality tag, which lift the perception of both
graduates and the organization that employs him or her.
Meanwhile due to the structure of the Indian labor market, there is an underused potential for recruiting
Indian engineering talent especially within core engineering streams such as civil, chemical, mechanical and
textile/material.
IITs are working to focus student aspiration and interest more thoroughly on core engineering career
tracks, but lack credible career trajectories to fuel student ambitions
Denmark: Globalizing businesses and universities
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Danish companies are making a mark globally often due to high quality engineering skills and an emphasis
on continued investment in research and development. However, while their markets are increasingly
global their company cultures and staff are decisively Danish.
Danish companies have difficulties accessing global talent and often rely on Danish management and
specialist even in daughter companies abroad
This is one reason why Danish companies in India have hitherto struggled to rise from the position of
subsidiary function provider to processes lead from Denmark into drivers of processes and projects.
Danish companies often have limited connectivity with influential Indian networks in government and the
corporate sector
With few exceptions, Danish companies and brands play a marginal role in Indian markets
In parallel, Danish universities suffer from lack of access to research talent in especially engineering and
medicine, even though the Danish government and industry have expanded the number of PhDs in the
areas substantially over the last decade. This threatens the feed of quality recruits to Danish industry.
Program Aims and Targets
 Increased recruitment of Indian engineering talents to Danish companies and universities
 Deeper network between Danish companies, universities, Indian universities and influential Indian
networks in business and politics
Jakob Williams Ørberg, jwo@edu.au.dk, Aarhus University, November 23, 2015
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Enhancement (in a situation of apprehensiveness) of general Denmark-India relations through the built up
of non-government ties.
Main challenges
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Securing Denmark-India win-win. A straight forward one-sided strategy to move Indian talent out will not
gain support on the Indian side.
Built up opportunities in core engineering. Placement cells and many students currently focus on
consulting and finance.
Expansion of Indian role in Danish setup. A strong Indian process ownership should be encouraged. An
initial focus on Danish companies in India is the way forward.
The quality of internships in Denmark may need some work, although industry leaders such as e.g.
Novozymes already have good programs. It may also be a problem that the internships will need to be
placed in June-July.
Program elements and organization
 The proposed program is consortium based and aims to utilize existing formats for student and graduate
recruitment both in Denmark and at top Indian engineering universities.
 It requires bottom up work with placement cells at Indian universities, initially providing internship
opportunities for a set number of students in the Summer break after 3rd year of the Indian 4-yr. B.Tech.
program.
 It will utilize the consortium to develop Danish international recruitment instruments such as TopTalent
into a method fitted for India
 Apart from the placement cell system, it will make use of ‘open house’, technology festivals and other
opportunities for joint promotion at Indian universities.
 It will in the longer term develop a platform for placement offers and a platform for recruitment for
research scholarships in both Denmark and India.
Financing
 Danish ministry of higher education and research TopTalent program funds
 Danish Innovation Center in India funds
 Shared expenses in consortium of businesses and universities
Process first two years
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Deliberations between Innovation Centre Denmark in India, Danish companies in India and IITs
Decision in ministry to redirect Danish recruitment strategy in India into the consortium.
Initial consortium meeting in Denmark between strongest Danish companies in India and relevant
universities – DTU, AAU, AU, KU. Participants should be hands on leaders from both company and
university side.
Jakob Williams Ørberg, jwo@edu.au.dk, Aarhus University, November 23, 2015
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Leadership and administration of consortium to be structured and steered from Innovation Centre
Denmark in Delhi
Meetings with placement cells
Internship pilot – exclusively in India
Development of full internship model
Roll out of consortium based new version of TopTalent