The appointment follows a lengthy, solid, and thorough recruitment process where Studieskolen received assistance from a recruitment agency to ensure everything went smoothly - even in the situation we find ourselves in, where we ultimately chose an internal candidate. As the chairman of the appointments committee, Nikolaj Lubanski, said, sometimes you have to look out into the world to realise that you have what you need right next to you.
There were 38 applicants for the position, and among them were many truly strong candidates. The process involved interviews and a series of comprehensive tests of the very strongest candidates, so we were completely confident in choosing the right candidate for this very demanding job.
There were several highly qualified applicants, but ultimately, all eight members of the appointments committee agreed that Qasim Shaikh is the right person for the job. Thus, Qasim has the strongest possible mandate to lead Studieskolen forward.
Since 2008, Qasim Shaikh has been working with leadership at Studieskolen. Additionally, he has worked with business development as well as product and concept development. He has experience with public tenders, he has been a key player in mergers and acquisitions and he has developed all the administrative systems that ensure the efficient operation of Studieskolen. Since 2018, Qasim has been the vice-director of Studieskolen.
The appointments committee consisted of chairperson of the board for Fonden Studieskolen Business, Nikolaj Lubanski, the chairperson of the board for Foreningen Studieskolen, Lisbeth Verstraete-Hansen, a member of the board for Foreningen Studieskolen, Jesper Denborg, and a member of the board for Fonden Studieskolen Business, Anders Bildsøe-Lassen.
Additionally, there were four internal members of the committee: employee representative Louise Frank-Jørgensen, employee representative Sabine Kramer, management representative Janne Aggerholm and management representative Susanne Gram Larsen.
The recruitment process has been underway since January 2024, when the current Managing Director of Studieskolen, Charlotte Lorenzen, announced that she chose to step down this summer to focus on other tasks. Charlotte Lorenzen has made a tremendous contribution to Studieskolen since 2009, initially as the head of our foreign language department and since November 2018 as the director of all of Studieskolen.
Qasim Shaikh will assume his position on 1 August.