Blog 1/3 : Building bridges through ENGAGE

Hello,

I am currently doing my field study within the ENGAGE project, where I am working and thinking like a project leader who is responsible to build the foundation for the project that build a bridge between different stakeholders.

At first, I thought of ENGAGE mainly as a project that should focus on improving contact between students and companies. But the more I work and think strategically about it, the more I understand that ENGAGE can create meaningful connections between students, teachers, alumni, and external partners in a way that supports long-term career development.

So far, my work has mainly been exploratory. I have been involved in reviewing literature that supports such initiatives, discussing the direction of the initiative with my teammate and Digital Business Lab, and helping develop preliminary interview questions for students, program leaders, teachers, alumni, and companies who are divided into primary and secondary stakeholders. This has shown me the importance of first understanding people’s actual needs before trying to design or strategize solutions.

One insight that I have reflected on a lot so far is that professional development is not only about what happens in the classroom. Along with the study material access to networks, real industry contact, and the opportunity to understand professional expectations can also shape a student’s future in a constructive way. Even something as simple as a conversation with the right person can create confidence, direction, and opportunity.

One, out of many things, that I find especially valuable in this project is that it encourages me to see from the perspective as a student and as a researcher. It is making me reflect not only on what kind of support students need, but also on how a university can build stronger and more deeper relationships with the world outside of the designated curriculum. 

For me, working in this project is giving me a better insight of how to go through networking much more effectively that focuses on creating solutions. As the pilot questions being ready me and my teammate is slowly moving towards interviews, which I will talk more about on my next blog post. For now, this is the first of the three blog post that gives an overview of the field study I am doing.