
15 Sep C2 Study visit to Stuttgart, Germany
Organized by Dekra Akademie, the visit started with Dekra Akademie representative giving a presentation on the essentials of German dual education system where participants had opportunity to compare the education systems of two countries and had a general understanding about the institutions included in the system.
Die IHK, Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce and Industry was visited by the delegates and the industry in the region together with their role in dual education system was explained in detail. The Chamber, the authority that signs the agreement between students and enterprises has a significant role in this system, as well as handling the mid – term and final exams of the apprentices through which they earn certificates to qualify for certain jobs. Participants were interested in learning about the details of all vocational education activities that the Chamber is undertaking.
KS 1 Stuttgart, the biggest vocational school of business administration in Federal State of Baden – Wuerttemberg was also a part of this visit. The school has many different branches and 5.000 students in total who come to school part time as a part of their dual education. Participants had the chance to ask the administrative details of the system and to see the classroom environment of the country in general.
Another meeting was at the Headquarter of IG Metall, the biggest trade Union for workers in metal-industries in Germany. The Head of Stuttgart branch welcomed participants, and representative of Daimler Sindelfingen plant and Unit Head of Youth were both present in the meeting, first two being Executive Board Members of the Union with 2,2 million workers. They gave information on the union system in Germany and explained the position they have in dual education. They are preparing the content for exams of the students which gave them a strategic position and complete the inclusive structure of the dual education system.
The last important component of dual education, a company was also visited as a part of the study trip, Lapp Kabel Company, a cable company with 4.000 employees worldwide hosted the participants in their premises where they saw the production process of multiple cables produced from different materials. The key intake from this visit was their workshops for apprentices. All materials used in the training was shown and students also explained the work they have been doing in the company. The e-learning platform that students are using as a part of their dual education, called ‘Christiani’ was discussed with the group. The company is also providing apprentices with a training along 2 – weeks in their premises in France where they learn to give the cable some certain shapes. It further supports the students if they wish to get trainings in another country, while receiving foreign students in their workshops.
In addition to these informative sessions on School – Enterprise Cooperation, Competence Management part was also included in the study visit. Dr. Martin Rost, from University of Stuttgart gave a presentation on competence management explaining both from theoretical and practical side of the discussion. He started emphasizing the very definition of competence together with close concepts to it. He explained his consultancy activities in detail in metal sector and enterprise representatives had the opportunity to compare his work with the competence management practices they have in their companies.
In order to offer the participants, the chance to see some cultural venues; an exhibition visit to New Stuttgart Railway Station project was planned. In this way, participants got ideas on popular discussions and on the daily life of the residents. Another visit was to the Porsche Museum, where the delegates listened to history of the brand together with historical milestones of the country in general.
A wrap up meeting was held as a focus group discussion in Dekra office and the Quality Manager of the project, Hanna Schankel was present there at this meeting.