The Armed Forces as a Career Path

When Teaching Meets Reality

How can teaching provide young people with a better foundation to make choices about education and career? This is the starting point for the project The Armed Forces as a Career Path, where youth education programs, vocational education, higher education, the Armed Forces, and emergency services collaborate to develop practice-oriented learning courses.

The project gives students insight into how their skills can be applied in critical societal functions – from cybersecurity and logistics to technology, management, and emergency preparedness.

The complete project description can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.

The Purpose of the Project

The project aims to strengthen young people's competencies and career awareness through engagement with authentic challenges and collaboration with actors from the Armed Forces and emergency services.

The goals include:

giving young people greater knowledge of education and career opportunities within the Armed Forces, emergency services, and related fields
creating a clear connection between teaching, education, and working life
developing practice-oriented teaching courses that link theory and reality
strengthening cooperation between educational institutions, higher education, and defense and emergency actors.

The project is not only about recruitment to the Armed Forces. It is about giving young people a better basis for making qualified education and career choices.

Who is the Project For?

The project targets students at:

HHX (Higher Commercial Examination Programme)
HTX (Higher Technical Examination Programme)
vocational educations (EUD)
FGU (Preparatory Basic Education)

During the project period, approximately 1,560 students are expected to participate in the activities.

Project Activities

The project is built around four main activities.

Defense-profiled study programs

Special study programs are established at HHX and HTX as well as an emergency preparedness line at FGU. Here, the regular subjects are linked with themes such as cybersecurity, logistics, management, technology, and societal security.

Theme packages for teaching

Teaching courses are developed that high schools can integrate into existing subjects. The theme packages give students the opportunity to work with authentic cases and current societal challenges.

Practice-oriented EUD courses

Students in vocational educations work on concrete tasks that demonstrate how technical and craft skills are part of the daily work of the Armed Forces and emergency services.

Dissemination and knowledge sharing

The project's experiences are shared with educational institutions, authorities, and decision-makers so that they can form the basis for new collaborations and inspire nationally.

A Strong Partnership

The project brings together a broad circle of partners from the education sector, the Armed Forces, and emergency services.

The partner group includes, among others:

eight youth education programs and vocational educations
University of Southern Denmark, UCL, and IBA
The Command Support Regiment, The Home Guard, The Defence Materiel and Procurement Agency
Emergency Center South Jutland and Trekant Brand.

IBC Fredericia is the project owner, while Trekantområdet Denmark manages the cross-sectoral project management, coordination, evaluation, and financial management.

Expected Results

The project should contribute to more young people:

becoming familiar with the Armed Forces and emergency services as possible career paths
experiencing a stronger connection between education and working life
strengthening their study, education, and career readiness.

At the same time, new teaching courses and lasting collaborations between educational institutions, the Armed Forces, and emergency services are developed.

Project Period

January 16, 2026 – January 1, 2029

The project is supported by Region of Southern Denmark's Education Fund.

Download

If you wish to read more about the project's background, organization, activities, and expected effects, you can download the complete project description here.