/ Internship students in place!
These days, a number of companies in the Kristiansand region have the pleasure of having a student on their team. Placement in an internship company is a win-win for both the companies and the students.
- "What is nice about having students on the team is that you get a fresh look at the tasks to be solved, through completely new eyes," says Maléne Peterson, group leader in KartAi and project manager at Norkart AS. Before the summer, she and her colleagues received a record number of applicants for internships in the KartAi project. The research project has been running since the beginning of 2021 and is about using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the quality of the property register (cadastre) and the central common map database (SFKB). The aim is to help automate and streamline case processing in construction cases. The internship students from the University of Agder will work closely with subject experts in the project to develop a more digital, democratic and automatic quality improvement of the property register.
KartAi is a collaboration between Kristiansand municipality, the Norwegian Mapping Authority, Norkart AS, and the University of Agder, and the students will work together in groups on various tasks:
- Guidance and optimization needs for Ai and machine learning.
- The potential gains achieved in KartAi related to national digitalization strategies.
- Service design of digital proactive citizen engagement.
Photo: Stian Meisingset.
Business Region Kristiansand has a long-standing tradition of taking in internship students. This year it is master's student Henriette Lunde who will strengthen the business manager's crew. She is studying at UiA's School of Business and Economics, with an emphasis on international business. During the fall, she will contribute concretely on several projects, but also in the daily discussion that takes place between the offices in the landscape.
- "Lately I have been working a lot with the Sustainable Business Idea Competition, where I have been responsible for the graphic design," says Lunde. She applied for an internship in January, and in June she was awarded a place at Business Region Kristiansand. She is very pleased with that.
- I enjoy working on different projects and I like the fact that things are happening around me," she says.
UiA has created its own portal to connect students with working life, Kompetansetorvet. It is free to search for internship students, and to advertise jobs or positions. It is also possible for companies to get help with a project or task by creating bachelor's and master's theses.
- Such cooperation has win-win effects. For businesses, it will lower the threshold to collaborate with academia. Companies will also be met on their demand to relate theoretical knowledge to real problems in working life, says Merethe Ryen, coordinator of the Competence Square. She welcomes inquiries from companies wishing to make contact with the students.
For those who want to test the possibilities, it may be useful to know the students' annual calendar:
- January-February/August-September: Most students decide on a project assignment and write the assignment in the same semester
- Before Easter: Students look for a relevant summer job
- April-May: Most students decide on a thesis topic and write their thesis the following spring
- Before summer: Many students look for part- or full-time jobs
- November/December: Most students decide on their bachelor thesis topic and write their thesis in the spring
