| More Degree Projects in the Northern Inland Area |
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| Written by Jan-Olof | ||
| Thursday, 14 January 2010 16:05 | ||
It is slushy December and the second last eduction day for the Motor Function - a newly started operation which by means of degree projects hopes for increaded exchange between businesses in the northern inland municipalities and Umeå University. Motor functionaries from Kramfors in the south to Arjeplog in the north have gathered in Umeå to sum up the first year of the Motor Function project. The experiences vary but are on the whole positive. The issues are initiated and full of commitment. How are we going to reach the students? When is the best time for hunt for degree projects? How are we going to get students to choose e.g. Storuman instead of Umeå or Stockholm? Britt-Inger Roos, motor functionary at Strömsund, can see a lot of possibilities with the Motor Function operations. - A successful degree project may lead to new solutions out there in a company, which otherwise had maybe not come about, she says. The Motor Function is a project within Akademi Norr - twelve inland municipalities, cooperating about higher education in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the region. Among other activities during the first year of the project the motor functionaries have been trained at how best to pick up ideas for degree projects among the businesses in their municipalities but have also started to make inventories of possible commissions. There was a hope for 150 potential degree projects - a goal which has been exceeded with knobs on. A web shop at Sorsele, for example, requires help with the design of administrator-friendly web pages, whereas a joiner's shop is in need of an IT system to enable customers to see where in the process their particular orders are. Benkt Wiklund is coordinator at the Umeå University Unit for Trade & Industry and the Community and has been in charge of the training of the motor functionaries. - An important reason for successfully finding potentialcommissions is that the motor functionaries already work out there in the municipalities and have good local knowledge in quite a different way than if somebody from the university should travel around and try to pick up possible degree projects, he says. There are altready examples of successful matchings via the Motor function. An energy technology studen at Umeå University is, for instance, investigating how it would be possible for BMW to reduce their use of energy in their testing facility at Arjeplog. Anne Åberg is project manager at Arjeplog and Arvidsjaur. - Finding interested enterprises has not been a big problem. Most of them are very positive and can see a large potential in students doing degree projects at their business, she says.
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| Last Updated on Friday, 15 January 2010 08:30 |
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