Tech leaders call out: We lack IT specialists but reject hundreds of international talents

Aarhus has an obvious opportunity to strengthen access to IT talent, but still has to reject the vast majority of international applicants to the university’s IT bachelor’s degree programs. Helle Bastrup from Erhverv Aarhus, Kaj Grønbæk from Aarhus University and Anne Louise Lauritzen from Tech Hub Aarhus write this in a debate article in Berlingske.

According to the post, 472 applications for IT bachelor programs at Aarhus University come from abroad. This corresponds to 80 percent of the applicant field. But with only 75 study places, the university has to reject almost 400 international applicants.

“When we close the door to more international IT students, we close the door to IT specialists. A workforce that the business community repeatedly tells us they need – and the need is well documented in numerous analyses,” writes Helle Bastrup, Head of International Talent & Relations at Erhverv Aarhus, Kaj Grønbæk, Professor and Head of Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University, and Anne Louise Lauritzen, Head of Tech Hub Aarhus.

Reform is blocking more study places

According to the three senders, the graduate reform from 2023 stands in the way of a larger intake, even though both the university and the business community support more study places.

One of the goals of the reform was to alleviate the labor shortage. However, in the IT field, according to those behind the reform, it risks having the opposite effect, as fewer graduates are being trained in fields such as computer science.

This also affects the startup and tech community, where access to specialized digital skills is a crucial growth factor. For many startups and scaleups, recruiting developers, data scientists and AI professionals is already one of the biggest barriers to scale.

A talent problem for Aarhus’ tech community

The article also points out that international students are not just an expense, but a potential gain for Denmark. According to the authors, 80 percent of international graduates from IT programs at Aarhus University find jobs in Denmark.

This makes it relevant far beyond the university. If Aarhus wants to strengthen its position as a tech and startup city, it’s not just about capital, research environments and new companies. It’s also about whether the city can attract and retain the people who will build the technology.

“As representatives from both university and business, we can only shake our heads. We have an obvious resource that we are closing the door on,” write the three Aarhus tech profiles.