"My professional career also started at this vocational college at that time, and it is a particular concern of mine to open up further career opportunities for the students and to awaken their scientific interest at an early stage. Many are not even thinking about studying yet," says Professor Uwe Meier. "In the future, we would like to encourage and support the students of the vocational college even more to study," says Meier. For this reason, there has been close cooperation between the Leo-Sympher-Berufskolleg from Minden and the OWL University of Applied Sciences for some time. As recently as January, students accepted an invitation from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering to visit Prof. Hausdörfer's laboratory for real-time systems. As part of a project week on the topic of "Automating a Production Model," they were able to test their theoretical knowledge on a model there and give free rein to their curiosity.
Under the new cooperation agreement, selected students can take exams (in programming languages, for example) at the university while still at school. These can be credited toward later studies. What's special about this? The number of exam attempts is not limited, as is usually the case. This means that students can test their knowledge without fear of consequences. And even those who are not thinking about studying after their training benefit: Additional qualifications and commitment are welcome in an application. "We see this cooperation as a great opportunity to motivate our students and show them new perspectives and possibilities," says the principal of Leo-Sympher-Berufskolleg, Knut Engels. Those who feel like getting a taste of even more higher education can, of course, also attend a taster course at the OWL University of Applied Sciences.
Current topics such as Industry 4.0 or digital control technology from the field of electrical engineering are not only of interest to the trainees, but also to the teachers at the vocational college. Through the cooperation, they now also have the opportunity to participate in courses at the OWL University of Applied Sciences and receive further professional training. "Staying up to date is more important today than ever. This gives us the opportunity to impart the latest knowledge and current developments in the industry to our trainees and optimally prepare them for their professional life or studies," says Engels