This is why KTH is a prize-winner: all students find employment

The students that have studied at the School of Computer Science and Communication (CSC) at KTH all find employment one year after taking their degree. The fact is that many students at CSC already have a job during their study period. This is one of the reasons why the school is now to receive the university’s prestigious award for a Distinguished educational environment 2009.

A further reason for the prize according to the Swedish National Agency for Higher Education is the considerable influence students have and which works well at CSC.

CSC is an excellent example of how to create a good educational environment. The management have well-defined strategies for development over the coming years and a clear vision for the future, Anders Flodström says, university chancellor.

Olle Bälter, Director of Undergraduate and Masters' studies at the School for Computer Science and Communication at KTH, responds to the classical sport question as to how it feels to receive the award by saying “Simply fantastic”.

“It is a lift for everybody at the school with a passion for basic education,” says Olle Bälter.

From his perspective, there are two main reasons why the school was awarded the prize.

“At CSC there is a high ceiling. You are allowed to fail, to learn from your failures and to come back with new knowledge and ideas. Basic education is also centralised, which means that it is possible to guide the education in a certain direction,” says Olle Bälter.

The award “Distinguished educational environment” is given to specific environments at universities and university colleges. A group of international assessors at the National Agency for Higher Education analyses the applications that come in and the requirements are high. It is possible to interpret from the assessor group’s motivation that the school works actively with different ways to continuously improve the educations.

The assessor group is of the opinion that CSC also seeks a good balance between research and education. Detailed course planning creates the conditions for different types of skills development for the teachers. The school also has a well-established system for quality assurance which means that the educations are not dependent on any individual enthusiast in order to maintain a high level of quality in the long term.

The acknowledgment “Distinguished educational environment” will be awarded at a ceremony on 28 January 2010.

For more information, contact Charlotte Elam at charlotte.elam@hsv.se or 08-563 085 99 or alternatively Olle Bälter at balter@csc.kth.se or 08 - 790 63 41.

Peter Larsson