At DTU, the study start is created through the efforts of student association Polyteknisk Forening (PF) and their hundreds of volunteers. Among other things, this means PF has continuously adjusted the rustrips for new bachelor students at DTU. As a result, DTU has been praised for being one of the first educational institutions to offer alcohol-free rustrips, rustrips taking place on campus, rustrips in English, and rustrips of different durations.
The DTU management greatly appreciates and acknowledges the hard work and now wants to collaborate with PF on developing the study start to align with DTU’s strategy of providing the best engineering programmes in Europe. The new study start is just one of many changes being implemented as part of the strategy, including the new polytechnic foundation, new courses, digital study programmes, and study programmes on campuses all over Denmark.
Therefore, the DTU management, the Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs, and PF will now continue their collaboration and develop a new study start with more academic content and an even better preparation for student life.
“We want to create the best study start for our new students. A study start that includes more academic content and more responsibility as well as interesting activities during the day and festive activities in the evening. So far, our working title is: the Study Start Festival.”
“As Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student affairs, I’m responsible for the decision to change the study start. This decision also means the study start will no longer involve rustrips with overnight stays. With our reinvention of the study start, we want to increase the focus on easing the transition from high school student to university student, hopefully reducing the number of dropouts,” says Lars D. Christoffersen.
Preserving the good things
President of PF Natasha Hougaard says:
“Overall, the collaboration between PF and the DTU management works well, and we expect this to continue in the development of the new study start. We don’t agree with the DTU management decision of eliminating the rustrips with overnight stays, but we have chosen to participate in the development of the new study start and will continue to be part of planning and execution. It’s important to preserve the things that work well, such as cake groups, PF’s vector training, and many other things that make for a good and inclusive study start.”
The new study start will be developed in close collaboration between the DTU Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs (AUS) and PF. The framework is still up for debate, and the work will begin with a discussion of what the goals of the new study start should be. Then it will be decided which activities to include. The development work will begin in September 2023, and the DTU management and PF encourage anyone with a good idea to share it.
