Print version Recommend this page Press release
38/ 2012
Bonn, 25.10.2012
Prizes awarded to four outstanding projects for the securing of skilled workers and management staff
Hermann Schmidt Prize 2012
The competition for the "Hermann Schmidt Prize" has been staged for the 16th time under the motto of "Attractiveness of dual vocational education and training for high-ability young people". The "Innovative Vocational Education and Training Association" is seeking to adopt a targeted approach towards identifying and rewarding projects and initiatives which have already developed and demonstrably implemented models relating to this theme. In certain regions and branches, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) with fewer than 20 employees are finding it increasingly difficult to secure the services of young skilled worker and management trainees. This is particularly true in the case of high-ability young people who have several training options at their disposal. The continuing trend towards higher levels of qualification is exacerbating the recruitment problems that companies are facing. The growing numbers of young people completing upper secondary school leaving certificates and higher education qualifications is threatening to sideline the dual system of vocational education and training.
The aim of the Association, which is funded by the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) in Bonn and the Bielefeld-based publishing house W. Bertelsmann Verlag (wbv), is to use the annual prize it awards for innovative approaches in VET practice as a vehicle for drawing attention to and promoting such projects and in order to encourage others to emulate them. The prize itself is named after former BIBB President Professor Hermann Schmidt, who led the institute from 1977 to 1997. The prize ceremony took place in Bielefeld on 24 October as part of the 9th wbv Specialist Conference.
The winning entries from those initiatives submitted for the competition were as follows.
Winner of the Hermann Schmidt Prize 2012 (€2,000): Additional qualifications of "Commercial clerk for international business" and "Chamber of Industry and Commerce specialist in import and export", Museumsdorf Vocational Schools, Cloppenburg
These two additional qualifications provide high-ability vocational school pupils with an opportunity to acquire extra competences alongside their normal commercial training and make such young people particularly interesting on the labour market. Companies operating at a global level increasingly require employees who are able to shape international business processes. This project imparts additional professional, technical and foreign language competences which are consolidated during a practical placement abroad of at least three weeks' duration. The jury was particularly impressed by the fact that additional skills acquired in this manner are capable of highly effective and rapid exploitation on the labour market.
Contact: Kai von Oesen, Museumsdorf Vocational Schools, Museumstraße 14-16, 49661 Cloppenburg, Tel.: 0202 / 9222-0, e-mail: international@bbsam.de, Internet: www.bbsam.de
Winner of the Hermann Schmidt Prize 2012 (€2,000): "Offering prospects - rewarding performance - drawing attention". The training concept of the bakery shop chain "Malzers Backstube", Gelsenkirchen
This prize-winning project relates to training in the craft trades occupation of baker and provides an excellent basis for offering young people development prospects regardless of formal school leaving qualifications and for securing the long-term company loyalty of talented workers. The company has instigated a particularly attractive form of training marketing, which includes modern recruitment strategies, a large number of training occupations, shortened training periods, an exemplary feedback culture, additional qualifications, special and performance-related bonuses and support for upgrading training or second chance school qualifications. The jury believes that the committed, systematic and extraordinary approach adopted within this initiative acts as a model which radiates well beyond the branch itself.
Contact: Andrea van Dillen, Malzers Backstube, Ulrichstraße 13, 45891 Gelsenkirchen, Tel.: 0209 / 9 70 74-0, Internet: www.malzers.de
Special prize (€1,000): "SWITCH - shortened vocational education and training for those dropping out of higher education study", City of Aachen Council, Department of Business Development/European Affairs
The aims of this prize-winning project are to make better use of the potential of higher education dropouts and to provide companies in the Aachen region, particularly in the IT branch, with the young skilled workers and management staff they urgently require. SWITCH enjoys the support of a comprehensive regional network and offers those who have failed to complete higher education an alternative career progression in the form of a course of dual VET shortened to 18 months and leading to a qualification in the occupation of information technology specialist or industrial clerk. The jury is of the view that SWITCH project operates at an important educational policy interface by opening up a second opportunity for higher education dropouts to establish themselves in the world of work and achieve a full vocational education and training qualification after all.
Contact: Ulrike Fehsenfeld, City of Aachen Council, Department of Business Development/European Affairs, Johannes-Paul-II-Str. 1, 52058 Aachen, Tel.: 0241 / 432 7657, E-mail: switch@mail.aachen.de, Internet: www.aachen.de/switch
Special prize (€1,000): "Abi & Auto" - a career in the motor vehicle mechanics branch for those with an upper secondary school leaving qualification - Munich/Upper Bavaria Vehicle Mechanics' Guild
The objective of this prize-winning project is to recruit suitable young skilled workers and management staff for craft trades in the motor vehicle industry. It aims to offer an attractive alternative to higher education study and to enable young people in possession of an upper secondary school leaving qualification to be fast tracked to the master craftsman examination. Parts of the master craftsman qualification are imparted within the scope of additional qualifications even during the two-and-a-half year period of training leading to qualification in the occupation of vehicle mechatronics technician. The examination in the occupation of motor vehicle service technician can be completed within the following six months, and a master craftsman qualification may then be subsequently obtained. The jury praises the project for offering attractive occupational career opportunities for craft trades in the motor vehicle industry, something which may also help alleviate the problem of a lack of company successions.
Contact: Johannes Lock, Munich/Upper Bavaria Vehicle Mechanics' Guild, Gärtnerstr. 90, 80992 Munich, Tel.: 0202 / 143 62-144, Internet: www.abi-und-auto.de
Brief presentations of the prize winning projects and of further projects submitted to the competition are included in a brochure available for download free of charge on the BIBB website at www.bibb.de/hermann-schmidt-preis.
Pictures of the prize giving ceremony are available at www.bibb.de/pressefotos.
Reprint free of charge - voucher copy requested.
