3LoE cooperation makes it happen!
Successful exchange to improve permeability
Austria's mechatronics engineers meet the "Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg" in Salzburg
Imagine if you could earn not only a Bachelor's degree but also an apprenticeship qualification in just four years - all thanks to an innovative collaboration between Austria and Hamburg. The EU project 3LoE makes it happen!
EU project 3LoE promotes educational innovations for the green economy
The EU project 3LoE promotes educational innovations for the green economy. The Austrian mechatronics engineers also benefit from this at their annual meeting. Prof. Dr. Uwe Schaumann from the Hamburg University of Cooperative Education presents "his" dual study program for SMEs with double the value: An apprenticeship with two qualifications - an apprenticeship certificate and a Bachelor's degree.
Enthusiasm for the dual study program
"The dual study program sounds like an interesting opportunity to reposition our company as a training facility for the younger generation and make it more attractive," says entrepreneur and LIM Deputy Chairman Johannes Binder from Styria enthusiastically.
He has long been looking for new solutions to attract well-trained and motivated employees to his company - for the long term! New training models are an important step in the right direction! Federal Guild Master Andreas Kandioler shares this opinion: "Especially in mechatronics, we need people who have a good education! 18-year-olds already know more about what they want, are more self-determined and can therefore be better employed."
Vision and goals of the 3LoE project
As part of the EU co-financed Erasmus+ project "3 LoE-Three-level Centers of Professional Excellence", the Institute for Applied Industrial Research, together with its project partner Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg (BHH), was able to present the best case example of "dual studies" to Austrian mechatronics engineers.
The four-year EU Erasmus+ project aims to enable greater permeability between vocational and academic training through new educational measures. And this has been successfully achieved with the dual study program.
3LoE cooperation with added value
At the project meeting in Rome at the latest, something clicked - between the IAGF, the Institute of Applied Business Research and the "Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg"! It was there that Prof. Dr. Joachim von Kiedrowski, BHH Vice President for Studies and Teaching, and Prof. Dr. Uwe Schaumann, Head of the Business Administration Management of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) course, presented the dual study program to all 3LoE project partners for the first time.
IAGF Institute Director DI Heidrun Bichler-Ripfel was immediately enthusiastic: "A dual degree sounds like a very interesting opportunity to attract high school graduates and university dropouts to innovative vocational training and thus reduce the shortage of skilled workers!" The dual study program is a vocational training program that is interesting for both employers and young employees.
What makes the dual study program at BHH special
Prof. Dr. Uwe Schaumann from the Hamburg University of Cooperative Education has twenty years of experience and knows exactly what needs both entrepreneurs and, in particular, younger employees, generations Z and Alpha, have. BHH has developed its own sophisticated schedule for entrepreneurs. This includes block and part-time models. Employers know exactly when and to what extent the dual students are available to them in the company - an important tool for reliable planning for all employers.
The BHH offers graduates a double degree in one training program: an (academic) bachelor's degree in business administration and an apprenticeship qualification by passing the final apprenticeship examination for mechatronics engineers, for example. All in just four years. Students learn, study and work alternately at three locations: in the company, at the vocational school and at the BHH. This means that duplication in training can be avoided and synergies exploited. In short: efficiently interlinked higher dual vocational training with a double degree.
International cooperation for the green economy
Since 2021, 22 stakeholders from seven countries - including vocational schools, universities and company representatives - have been developing new models of dual vocational training in the field of the green economy. Best practices are also being exchanged, adapted and expanded between the project partners from Germany, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Spain and Italy. One example of this is the dual study program at the "Berufliche Hochschule Hamburg" (BHH).
A look into the future
In an interview after the presentation and a very stimulating discussion round, the Managing Director of the Federal Guild, DI Christian Atzmüller, showed great interest in the press conference: "I can also imagine this (dual study program) for metal technology or electrical engineering, so that more people want to take up this profession."
Further and more in-depth events are already under discussion!
