Newly graduated engineers find jobs quickly after having completed their study programme. A graduate and employer survey from the analysis firm Epinion prepared for DTU shows that almost 9 in 10 DTU Masters of Science in Engineering and Bachelors of Engineering in the workforce have found employment no later than one year after having completed their studies.
The survey documents that the demand for engineers in society remains high and confirms the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA’s forecasts that—by 2030—there will be a shortage of 13,000 engineers and people with a long-cycle higher education degree in engineering and IT. The latest figures from IDA show that the unemployment rate for engineers and science graduates was 1.7 per cent in June 2022.
“It’s gratifying that engineering students quickly land jobs. More than half of DTU engineers go almost directly into a job after completing their studies. This reflects society’s great need for engineers—which is a professional group with an unemployment rate of less than two per cent—which means that there is hardly an unemployed engineer to be found in Denmark,” says DTU President Anders Bjarklev.
Strong digital competences
The graduate and employer survey has been prepared on the basis of DTU engineers graduating in the 2019-2021 year groups, and shows that there is great satisfaction with the quality of the newly graduated engineers among companies and other employers.
The employers of DTU engineers generally find that DTU engineers have the competences needed. Among the employers, DTU engineers score particularly highly on commitment and digital competences. More than half of the employers also find that DTU engineers have high academic competency and professionalism as well as an innovative approach to the work.
Only in relation to sustainability competence is there any significant variation among the employers’ assessments.The employers point to sustainability as an important competence for engineers. Against this background—and for other reasons—DTU has included sustainability as a core element in all DTU’s study programmes in recent years. And since 2021, DTU has formalized this process further by introducing a charter, which means that students have to consider sustainability in all their project assignments and products.
DTU will monitor the development in employer satisfaction in this area as well in future analyses and graduate surveys.
Most graduates are employed in the private sector
The majority of recently graduated Masters of Science in Engineering and Bachelors of Engineering are employed in the private sector and in the business services industry. The study shows that this industry employs 28 per cent of the newly graduated Masers of Science in Engineering and 34 per cent of the newly graduated Bachelors of Engineering from DTU. Business services cover consultancy, research and development, as well as advertising. This is followed by manufacturing industry, raw materials extraction, and utilities.
