Broadened and Relevant Recruitment for Master's Programmes
This project explores the possibilities to increase the number of eligible first-hand international applicants to the master programme Industrial & Environmental Biotechnology (TIMBM). The competence of the graduates are highly needed by the industry.
Background and problem definition
The Master's programme in Industrial & Environmental Biotechnology (TIMBM) does not recruit enough international students, despite a high demand for this competence from industry. Secondly, a large number of applicants do not meet the specific requirements for admission, and this requires unnecessary administrative resources during the Masters admissions process.
A third important issue for international applicants is that it is difficult for them to find information about our research. This is described in each department and on each researcher's profile page.
What we want to achieve
- Develop a pilot project that other programmes can easily use to increase the number of eligible applicants to Master's programmes.
- To communicate specific prerequisites so that more applicants are eligible, and the master admission process is facilitated.
Challenges
TIMBM has a unique combination of engineering, biology and biotechnology/ chemistry as special requirements and this is currently unclear for the applicants.
KTH does not describe the research on the student web and there is no link to the departmental web pages where important research information is described.
Suggestions for improvement
Increase number of applicants:
- We suggest to produce a recruitment film illustrating important infrastructure and the unique environment at KTH.
Increase number of eligible applicants:
- Revise specific requirements. This part is in progress.
The communication of the research behind the programme is important for international applicants:
- We suggest an auto-generated description about the research behind the programme. Possibly with some interviews of teachers in key courses.
Results and lessons learnt
- A poster about most of the teachers’ research have been created.
- A website about Faculty & Research connected to the programme description has been created.
- A LinkedIn investigation about the last 50 graduates showed approximately 30 different companies and organisations where alumni works, and that 11 are PhD students.
Next step
- This project continues in 2024 with the next phase, which includes recording of a recruitment film (planned for May 8th).
- The revision of the specific eligibility requirements is in progress.
- Work on potential revision of the pre-requirements has been initiated.