33 from UCPH selected as youth ambassadors

Denmark has a community of young internationals called Youth Goodwill Ambassadors who create connections with foreign countries while studying and living in this country.

The University of Copenhagen has 33 out of a total 144 selected goodwill ambassadors this year, after a rigorous interview phase. There were 400 applicants in total.

Bhaskar Mitra, one of the selected, is a PhD fellow at the Department of Food Science, UCPH, and has already gained University Post fame for his invention of a smartphone cover that can test water quality and an innovative meat cracker that changes colour in contact with sauce.

“I have been working in Denmark for 2 years now and it has been empowering for me to see how the Danish work culture is an embodiment of doing things efficiently and ethically,” says Bhaskar.

Companies want candidates

With the 32 other UCPH students and PhD fellows selected, Bhaskar attended the International Talent Conference in the presence of HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark at the headquarters of Danish engineering corporation COWI.

There they met senior level executives in multinational corporations like Maersk, Novo Nordisk, Grundfos, Coloplast and Microsoft.

Bhaskar Mitra was one of those selected

“I attended two live sessions conducted by Novo Nordisk and Coloplast and they were precise as to what kind of talent they are looking for and the type of candidates who show expertise in domains of the enterprise like in research, supply chain, finance or in managing innovation,” Bhaskar explains to the University Post.

Helps retain talent pool in Denmark

Prince Joachim said that the programme helped retain a pool of talent in Denmark.

“In today’s global economy, talent mobility is a huge driver for intercultural exchange, innovation and international business. By working closely with our young talents, we are connecting Denmark with the home countries of selected international students on a people to people level, which already is showing great results,” he said.

He was seconded by Nikolaj Lubanski, the Director of Talent at Copenhagen Capacity.

“In today’s global economy, highly qualified and skilled labour is crucial for international competitiveness, innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said.

The YGA Programme is an initiative founded by Copenhagen Capacity in close collaboration with Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador Corps and in a partnership with the Danish universities including UCPH, Aarhus University, Aalborg University, Copenhagen Business School and the Technical University of Denmark. The project is funded by the EU Social Fund.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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