Like companies, schools are watching the declining interest in engineering studies with sorrow. How do we get young people to study engineering and become enthusiastic about a career in the Northern Netherlands? The answer to this question is the basis for the unique collaboration between the high-tech companies and the training centers. Developing human capital for an enjoyable and sustainable career that benefits companies, schools and, above all, students. The Northern ‘human capital roadmap’ was born.
Company culture
Students and teachers know according to Laura Keijzer of consulting firm Berenschot, insufficiently what is going on in companies. ,,And schools feel that the supervision of internships within companies leaves much to be desired. So that requires a good conversation, but actually more than that. Education wants to attract enough new students to keep their technical courses well-stocked. And the companies are looking for suitable personnel who fit the corporate culture.’’
21 century skills
Determining culture is according to Peet Ferwerda, project leader strategic policy making at the Friesland College therefore the first step. ’’There is a gap between what companies demand and we as education offer. Not so much in terms of technical knowledge, but especially in professional attitude, say 21-century skills.’’ According to Ferwerda, new forms of cooperation between schools and companies are needed to develop these kinds of skills. Whoever wants to cooperate must know what profile student or employee must meet. Therefore, he looks at four areas: knowledge, skills, personal qualities and the basic professional attitude. ,,Companies are looking for employees for whom it makes sense to share knowledge, who research independently and want to keep learning. Not people who say: I don't understand anything, they should explain it better to me and at 4:30 I go home!''
case education
This requires a different organization of education, for example based on case studies. For those who like structure and want to know in advance what will happen, this way of doing an internship is nothing. But Jelmer Kloosterman and Sven Raven, both third-year mechatronics students at ROC Frisian Gate, They are looking forward to a new adventure where they are in charge of their own learning process. ’’Determining my own learning goals and having more freedom in what I do is much more fun and I learn more,’’ Jan says enthusiastically. Sven has also experienced more freedom. ,,My job was to look for mistakes or near misses. Because I went off by myself against experienced employees, I learned a lot. More than if I had had to complete a set program or schedule.’’ Jelmer says he often introduced himself because he kept meeting new colleagues in the plant hall. ''This immediately gives the opportunity to ask questions about what they are working on and how they do their jobs.''
Teacher internship
Fokko van Duinen, teacher Middle Management Engineering at ROC Friese Poort proves that teachers can still learn. He was the first teacher to do an internship at Neopost Technologies. Especially to know what is really going on in a company. I learned about risk reduction and machine safety and was shown around the automatic packaging machine by a former student. I experienced in practice how hazards are reduced. This knowledge is valuable because I now have a better idea of the practice. Actually, every teacher should go on a ten-day internship every so often to refresh knowledge.’’
For internship supervisor Ben Scholtanus, Manager of Operations Engineering at Neopost Technologies, the ‘teacher internship’ is a wonderful way to better align the dynamics of schools and companies. ,,With Fokko we now have an internship supervisor who knows how things work at our company. This allows him to assess better than before which student suits us and he can prepare students better. Not only for their internship, but in general for working at a company.’’ The more companies start cooperating with schools in this way, the better it will be, according to Scholtanus. ’’Because each company does different things that teachers can learn from.''
In the media
Leeuwarder Courant, 29 June 2018: Tech companies and MBOs want to train better staff together
Dagblad van het Noorden, 29 June 2018: Tech companies and MBOs want to train better staff together
Heerenveensche Courant, 29 June 2018: High-tech companies and training centers sign cooperation
Friesland College website, June 28, 2018: Cooperation with companies and mbo in ‘high-tech’ region Drachten
Drachtster Courant, 2 July 2018: Northern ‘human capital roadmap’ is born
photo report by Lisa Mulder, first-year photography student at ROC Friese Poort.