Education

An early start for success - Fraunhofer IZM school partnership program

Recruitment problems, skilled worker shortages - many see education and training as stagnating. Fraunhofer IZM is making a positive contribution to countering this perceived downward spiral by expanding its partnership program with schools. The institute has already maintained a cooperation with the Diesterweg Gymnasium, a high school in the Berlin district of Wedding, for the past six years and now also plans to work with students from Berlins Heinrich-Hertz Gymnasium, which has strong focus on math and natural sciences.

The partnership program is intended to prepare students for the realities of the workplace and, above all, to encourage them to choose careers in technology and research. At the same time, Fraunhofer IZM will find out how to better tailor its vocational training program to the needs and requirements of the school system and thereby make careers in engineering more attractive to girls in particular. The time for such an initiative has never been better, with studies showing that only 10 percent of German high school students consider embarking on a career in engineering.