The KK Foundation is investing in dental training to boost employability
The KK Foundation is investing in educational projects to be developed in collaboration between higher education institutions and businesses. One of the programmes now receiving 2.4 million kronor is an updated advanced-level dentistry programme at Malmö University, designed to enhance the employability of graduates.
“We are delighted and grateful for this funding. It enables us to make an extra effort to further strengthen dental education in collaboration with our dedicated teaching staff and representatives from the business community,” explain Christina Gummesson, project managers at the Faculty of Odontology.
The background to the KK Foundation’s initiative is that it is currently difficult for many Swedish companies to recruit the right skills, which could have consequences for Sweden’s future competitiveness. A common feature of the five projects receiving support, including the dental education programme at Malmö University, is therefore that the business community is involved in development work to strengthen both the content and the link to working life.
The idea of the project at the faculty is that the four advanced-level courses will be developed in collaboration with the University’s partners. This work will build on a review previously carried out in collaboration with various stakeholders to upgrade the programme’s pedagogical focus, content, and structure, which has resulted in a competence framework to support key competencies throughout the programme.
“We will now, in consultation with our partners, continue to develop the new curriculum. This means, for example, working together to explore how we can develop further authentic challenges that prepare students for working life in modern general dentistry”, says Nina Lundegren, project managers at the Faculty of Odontology.
One positive aspect for the current development work on the programme is that, since last autumn, the Faculty of Odontology has established the long-term research profile ‘Advancing Oral Health’ with funding from the KK Foundation. Both project leaders, Gummesson and Lundegren, are also involved in this.
The research profile does not have a specific work package for education. However, a couple of the companies within the profile are also part of this project. As a result, more staff within these organisations, in addition to those working within the research profile, are involved in collaboration with the University.
In addition, three other companies are also involved in the current education project.
“This means that new channels of collaboration are being established with more parts of the business community and with more staff at the faculty, which in turn can help generate more new research questions,” says Lundegren.
