Record numbers of female summer students

KONGSBERG received a total of 1500 applications for this year's 113 summer positions, and 46 of the students who were selected this year are women.

A total of 41 per cent of the summer students joining KONGSBERG this year are women, which represents an increase of 11 per cent compared to 2016. 

“We are delighted that so many talented people look to us KONGSBERG for a relevant summer job. It is also very gratifying that the proportion of women applying has continued to increase, to the point that almost every other summer student this year is female. We firmly believe that diversity in the workplace adds value and we want to play a key role in encouraging even more women to choose technology-oriented studies. A summer job that offers a chance to test out the theory in a practical environment is an important way of motivating students to work hard through their studies”, says Geir Håøy, CEO and President of KONGSBERG.

A project or summer job in a technical department

KONGSBERG offers two different summer jobs: working on a specific project or a summer job in a technical department. The projects are generally the most popular choice. The

“Subsea” project run by Kongsberg Maritime and the “LocalHawk” project run by Kongsberg Defence Systems received the most applications, with 482 and 449 students respectively wanting to take part in these projects.

“The students face exciting and relevant challenges throughout the eight-week programme in which they work on specific projects and tasks under close supervision from our technologists. We learn a lot from their fresh knowledge and the different ways in which they approach technological issues. It is fun and inspiring to see how they challenge us”, says Håøy.

“The summer jobs offer valuable work experience that is useful for both the students’ on-going studies and when the time comes for them to apply for jobs at the end of their studies. The students that particularly excel during the course of the summer also have good prospects of securing a contract ensuring them a job when they complete their studies”, Håøy points out.

The first space project

KONGSBERG has a total of nine projects, several of which have been run over several years. This year, a new specialised summer project focusing on space, called “Starburst”, has been initiated. The project is a collaboration between several companies in the Norwegian aerospace industry, and the 15 students selected will work across these companies, working towards a final “exam” that will involve releasing a high-altitude balloon from the Andøya Space Center in August

- Our “Starburst” project is one of several exciting opportunities. It will be the first time that we will have run a summer student programme within space. The students working on this project will also be working across different companies within the Norwegian aerospace industry, meaning that they will need to work together towards a final objective. This format is very similar to the way we work at KONGSBERG each day with our business partners”, says Håøy. 

You can follow Starburst on Twitter here

For further information, please contact:

Johannes Dobson, Group communications manager, KONGSBERG, (+47) 906 77 262, johannes.dobson@kongsberg.com

Watch the results of summer projects 2016