Strategy

At Techcollege, we have a dual purpose as an organization. We have both a responsibility to strengthen the individual student's life opportunities through education - and at the same time, we must fulfill our social responsibility by ensuring qualified labor for today's and tomorrow's labor market.

For the vocational education programs (EUD and EUX), we are committed to unleashing the potential of all our students, so that we give each student a strong foundation for their (working) life - and the opportunity to later choose further education. At the same time, this is the way we can meet the labor market's need for qualified skilled labor - in close collaboration with the training companies.

At high school, we have a special focus on preparing students for further education – through the development of both professional skills and general education – and with the clear aim of making our students academically competent.

In our continuing education, we are committed to making lifelong learning available to everyone - so that we both raise the individual's level of competence and at the same time meet companies' needs for upskilling and competence development.

And for all our programs, we focus on educating and training our students for democratic participation so that they can become active citizens in our society.

Overall, this is our purpose – and what we as employees must work towards together every day. Therefore, it is also the starting point for our strategic work in the coming years.

Challenged on purpose – and the strategic way forward

At Techcollege, however, we are challenged to live up to our purpose – both in relation to our social mission and in relation to the individual student. Declining youth cohorts and declining student numbers mean that society will in future lack both skilled labor and applicants for higher STEM education – and this is further reinforced by a high dropout rate from our programs.

Furthermore, sustainability and the green transition place completely new professional demands on our students' competencies - and thus great demands on the development of our education programs and us as a school, if we are to be able to deliver qualified professionals to the business community and competent students for further education in the future.

Finally, the austerity plans of recent years have challenged the cohesion and employee well-being at Techcollege. This makes it difficult to focus on our purpose – because as an organization we must be in balance if we are to be able to do our best for the students.

Therefore, we need a new strategy that addresses these challenges and creates a framework for us to develop our school together in the coming years. The strategy therefore identifies the following five strategic areas of focus, all of which aim to strengthen and develop Techcollege in its work to fulfill our purpose towards 2026:

Purpose-driven organization – so that we develop Techcollege as a purpose-driven organization and unleash the organization's energy and development power

Visibility – so that more students choose our programs as the next step on their educational journey

Learning, well-being and achievement – so that more students complete their education and strengthen their life opportunities

Sustainability – so that our students go out into the world with the skills to work and think sustainably

Attractive workplace – so Techcollege becomes a good place to be for all our employees

At Techcollege, we share a common purpose, and the purpose must therefore serve as a strong compass for the community at Techcollege – and as a common thread through all our decisions. Over the coming years, Techcollege must therefore be strengthened and developed as a purpose-driven organization, so that we create a strong culture with our purpose as the focal point – a common foundation for the liberation of the organization.

It is crucial here that all employees develop a strong shared understanding of our purpose, because only then can we speak and act competently together. Therefore, based on our purpose, we will set up a number of cornerstones that together provide a clear framework for how we together translate our purpose into everyday decisions.

Furthermore, we can only succeed as a purpose-driven organization if we become good at collaborating – internally in our teams and across departments and programs. We need each other – both when we have to solve our daily operational tasks and when we have to develop and find completely new paths. We are a committed working community, where we take joint responsibility for succeeding with the purpose. Therefore, our work as a purpose-driven organization begins with ourselves and our collaboration in our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). In order to develop the purpose-driven organization, we will continue our work to build strong PLF communities, so that the individual PLF can be freed to make the decisions that benefit our students' learning and development. Here, we are making a shift from traditional hierarchical management and towards liberated and co-leading teams – because we believe more in the energy and strength of the community than in traditional hierarchies and forms of management. And when we succeed in this, it can be felt by our students and partners, who experience that everyone at Techcollege works together to create the best possible conditions for students' learning and development.

Creating a purpose-driven organization is a complex and extensive task, and we do not know all the answers, but we do know that the new organizational form must be created and learned together. We must learn from the organizations that have gone this way before us, develop through trial actions and continuously adapt based on what we learn along the way. We will experiment with forms of involvement, decision-making processes, dynamic and changeable structures and new organizational forms – so that together we create learning about what works best here at our company.

The process will be long and we won’t be there any time soon, but we are ready to start a journey that requires both patience (because it takes time to change and learn new things) and courage (because we must dare to step out into the new even though there is a risk of failure). Along the way, we will certainly lose our footing for a while, and that is why we have set out a number of guidelines for the process. It is not a recipe, but it is something that we can aim for – even when it gets difficult.

More students must choose an education at TECHOLLEGE – as an active and positive option – so that we can have more skilled and more STEM-competent students. We must therefore strengthen our visibility and our student recruitment, so that many more people see all the opportunities we can offer here at Techcollege – and thus choose us as the framework for the next step on their educational journey.

We must create a culture where the entire organization contributes to communicating and creating visibility about the school and our programs. We must tell many more of the good stories that we have - so that our messages reach many more people.

And we must be an open and visible school at all levels – from the interaction with the local community to clear markings on the educational policy scene. We must strengthen our visibility and create greater awareness of our education programs by being open to cooperation and ready for new partnerships – with municipalities, companies, schools and many others. We must think new and break new ground in our marketing and branding of the school, so that we reach new target groups – regionally, nationally and internationally.

But perhaps most importantly, we must be an attractive school that is known for something good and that has something to do with it. Therefore, success with all the other strategic initiatives is a prerequisite for us to create the visibility and student recruitment that we need.

Specifically, the work on visibility will be based on the following initiatives:

• A strong and recognizable branding profile : We will define a common narrative (tone of voice) and create a strong and recognizable brand identity - both overall for Techcollege, but also adapted to the individual areas (EUD, HTX, EUX and continuing education).

• Target group understanding and loyalty building : We will develop our understanding of the many different student target groups that we recruit from – and especially which platforms we can capture them on. In addition, we will work to build loyalty through good experiences for our students/course participants.

• Digital and data-driven marketing : In conjunction with an increased understanding of our target audience, we will work to increase our digital presence through more data-driven marketing and customized campaigns. The goal is to reach target groups more effectively and personally through digital channels.

• Event-based marketing : We will both improve existing and develop new physical recruitment events to ensure a better first impression for potential students and course participants who meet us through both external and internal events.

• Co-responsibility for marketing : We want to create an ambassadorship among both employees and students, who, as part of their everyday lives, will help market our programs.
  In addition, we will invite all employees to gain insight and contribute to the marketing work through scheduled open meetings where everyone can participate and contribute new ideas.

• Comprehensive efforts for student-sprout activities : We will strengthen and develop the quality of our student-sprout activities (bridge building, introductory courses, EUD 8, 9 and 10, electives in primary school, etc.), so that we ensure that the students' encounter with the school's programs leaves an inspiring impression of the many educational opportunities that we have to offer.

• Visibility through collaboration : We will strengthen collaboration with Aalborg Municipality and a number of other framework actors in the 'Aalborg collaboration for more skilled workers' - with the goal of eventually also developing similar collaborations with the other catchment municipalities.

• Increased gender diversity in our student recruitment : We will have a special focus on increasing gender diversity in our programs – so that more women choose traditionally male subjects and more men choose traditionally female subjects.

A successful youth education strengthens students' life opportunities and gives them a good foundation to build their lives on. That's why we at Techcollege are concerned with how we can help as many of our students as possible to complete their education - and it starts with a sharp and persistent focus on students' learning and well-being.

Based on our pedagogical learning culture and our PLF collaboration, we will therefore continue to develop strong academic and pedagogical educational environments so that we can create professional and personal development for all our students. We are committed to discovering and unleashing the potential of all our students – regardless of whether they are struggling to pass or striving for top grades and gold medals. We meet the students at eye level and with a focus on the whole person – and do our best to ensure that each student is heard and seen, so that we can adapt our efforts to the individual's needs. We strive for all our students to become as skilled as they can be – and we are ready to help, support and guide them throughout the student journey from application to apprenticeship certificate/student cap.

If we are to succeed in this ambition and truly create increased completion in our programs, it also requires that we dare to take new paths and experiment with our pedagogy, didactics, educational structures and forms of organization. But regardless of whether we embark on wild experiments or work on small improvements to daily practice, it must be done with a clear focus on strengthening the framework for students' learning and well-being, so that students experience being able to be proud of attending one of the school's programs - and leave us as good ambassadors after completing their education.

The specific efforts to strengthen students' learning, well-being and achievement will therefore focus on the following:

• Continued development of our pedagogy and didactics - with a focus on strengthening the implementation of our pedagogical learning culture and our PLF collaboration

• Developing a stronger study environment – through a focus on both developing our physical environment and our social communities (strengthened connections)

• Developing our school dormitory so that the dormitory becomes an integrated part of the study environment

• Trial actions and experiments with efforts to increase implementation (contact teacher role, new forms of mentoring and support schemes, more study trips through Erasmus+ or...?)

• Trials and experiments with new forms of organization and innovation of teaching – including digital learning tools

• Increased professional pride through strengthening educational traditions at both EUD, EUX and HTX

• Experiments with access to workshops outside of school hours (Open School)

• Continued focus on more apprenticeships – because apprenticeships motivate students to complete their vocational training

• Strengthened cooperation with companies and framework actors – because we have a shared responsibility for the apprentice to receive his or her journeyman's certificate

• Continued focus on our quality work – because data can create learning about how we create higher execution

• Continued development of our continuing education offerings and student environment - so that we both raise the individual's level of competence and at the same time meet companies' needs for upskilling.

The world needs sustainable skills to drive the sustainable transformation of society forward, and at Techcollege we are ready to lead the way in the transformation that this requires of our education. Based on our position as a global goals school and our ambition to be a good example, we will make Techcollege a pioneering school within sustainability and green transformation, so that both professionals and students are equipped to work and think sustainably.

And it starts with ourselves as a school – and the way we make decisions. We will make sustainability a natural part of all our decision-making processes and create an organization and a culture where there are multiple equal bottom lines. Decisions must be made based on a comprehensive consideration of both the economic, environmental and social elements – and with a clear goal of creating sustainability in all three areas.

Therefore, we will develop a Techcollege ESG report, which will ensure that we set concrete goals for our sustainable development both at the institutional level and locally in departments/programmes - and continuously follow up on how far we have come on the journey towards a sustainable business school.

Our concrete work on sustainability will also be based on DEG's model for the sustainable vocational school and the five arenas for working on sustainability:

• Sustainable school operations – focus on green solutions for energy and resource consumption, recycling, purchasing, new construction, canteen operations – and much more regarding the daily operation of the school

• Teaching sustainability – developing teaching in sustainability so that our students and trainees are equipped to work and think sustainably.

• Sustainable organization – developing a school culture where sustainable values are clearer for both students, employees and our environment

• Sustainability in development projects – focus on how sustainable goals can be included in school development projects

• Partnerships for sustainability – focus on how schools can use partnerships (e.g. with companies or knowledge institutions) to promote work on sustainability and the SDGs in both teaching and school operations

In addition, there will be a great focus on ensuring that we as an organization develop the right skills to create sustainable development - so that we both have the skills to create sustainable school operations, but especially that we develop the necessary teaching skills so that we can equip our students to create the sustainable solutions of the future.

Techcollege should be a good place to be – a place where we have the energy to make a difference for our students. That is why we prioritize employee well-being and job satisfaction, so that we can create a strong and engaging work community where we can do our best – for the purpose, for the students and for each other.

At Techcollege, you should experience that there is room to develop yourself personally, professionally and socially - and we want to be known as a place where you want to:

• to apply for a job at Techcollege – because we have a good reputation as a good workplace

• to stay in your job – because we are a good place to be with high employee satisfaction and meaningful work

• to develop both oneself and the school – because we have good frameworks for both personal and professional development, which strengthens both the school and the individual

• to recommend the workplace to others – because we are such a good place to be that you want to share it with others

To create all this, we must together develop an organization where we consistently focus on employee well-being and job satisfaction. A culture where it is natural to engage in dialogue – even about the difficult – and a work community characterized by dialogue, trust and participation.

In our specific work to create an attractive workplace, we will therefore focus on the following:

• Current management – more time for personnel management

• Increased focus on employee well-being – through ongoing well-being surveys, follow-up dialogue and implementation of concrete actions (including those that are difficult)

• Strengthened onboarding process for all new employees – and exit interviews for everyone who chooses new paths

• Ongoing skills development for everyone – with the right and obligation to personal and professional development

• Ready for the future labor market? We need to learn more about the new generations and new labor market trends, so that we design Techcollege in a way that also makes us an attractive workplace in the future.

• Focus on the ongoing prioritization of our tasks (where there are no easy answers!), so that we ensure that we use our time and skills where it creates the most value for our students

• Focus on our meeting and email culture to ensure we use our time in the best possible way

• Community and traditions – both locally and across the organization

• Strengthened openness, transparency and dialogue – so that everyone understands the background to the decisions and priorities that are made