Internship survey amongst international KEA students

 Judging by the media, you might get the impression that international students are a bunch of SU riders who only came to Denmark for a free degree and who’ll return to their home country once they’re done studying.

But the reality is different – at least at KEA, where the results of the International Survey 2020 show a picture.

Many of our students have a great desire to stay and work in Denmark after their graduation. 43 percent would like to top up their degree in Denmark, while 64 percent would like to make a career here and only 3 percent want to return to their home country after graduation.

The same trend applies to internship, which is mandatory at KEA: only 16 percent want to go abroad (not necessarily to their home country).

And SU takes up relatively little space when you ask international students to tick off the reasons why they came to Denmark: 71 percent came for education, 46 percent came because of career opportunities, 42 percent for the Danish society and culture, while only 30 percent ticked off SU as one of several reasons for choosing Denmark.

Most young people find it difficult to relate to what they’ll be doing in the distant future; yet, 47 percent say that they see themselves living in Denmark in five years' time.

“International students are not SU riders - their motivation lies elsewhere. The study shows a more nuanced picture of why young people from other countries travel to Denmark to study. These young people are quite clear about their move; they choose Denmark for career, democracy and culture. We offer free education for EU citizens and that will always be attractive, but they want jobs in Denmark and they know what it takes to get a career. – Retention of international students after graduation is one of KEA’s focal areas which we’ve been working on for some years now," says Eva Valcke, Director of KEA Career and Relations.

Similarly, a November 2019 study showed that the rate of foreign students at KEA doing their internship in Denmark was exceptionally high, at 83 percent.

Internship is one of the means to link international students to the Danish labour market, thereby retaining them.

“That’s why it is so encouraging to see that so many international students choose to have their internship in Denmark. It shows us that they understand that having their internship in Denmark will give them important tools and a network that they can use in their job hunt later on. It also shows us that businesses are able and happy to take our international students in internship.