Global Danish companies still find that home-grown candidates too often lack the necessary requirements to pursue an international career, according to the Danish industrial advocates Dansk Industri (DI) and global companies like FL Smidth and Arla.

“Danish candidates often lack the desire to be expatriated outside of Denmark and lack the required international competences like mastering a foreign language other than English and knowing how to behave in other cultural settings," said Sarah Gade Hansen, a senior adviser at DI.

"This is why DI finds it very important that more Danish students study abroad."

Same conclusion as last year
This conclusion is in accordance with a report DI released one year ago that showed that 35 percent of Danish companies had problems getting Danish candidates with the right qualifications.

The candidates all too often lack the cultural understanding and determination to pursue an international carrier.

Universities need to listen to companies
Danish companies like FL Smidth, which has more than 50,000 employees in 15 countries, and Arla agreed that they still have problems finding Danish candidates with the right qualifications.

“The education does not even get close to what you need for an international career,” explained Kasper Nygaard, the global brand manager at Arla, to Jyllands-Posten. He recommended that the students should work more on concrete cases based on the reality that companies face in everyday life.

Not enough science graduates
Hansen added that the universities do not produce enough graduates with science and engineering educations.

“The general problem is that the universities do not educate according to what the companies need,” she said.