The Regional Career-Orientation Forum for students in the mechatronics and electronics sector, organized by the Zespół Szkół Mechanicznych in Bolesławiec, was held on Thursday, June 14, at the Old Theatre. The meeting was opened by Adam Maksymczyk, director of the Bolesławiec “mechanik”.
The forum, attended by upper-secondary school students from Bolesławiec, Chocianów and Bogatynia, was led by Piotr Księżyk from ZSM. “We are meeting today to find out how modern technology is developing and which direction it is heading in,” he said.
Dr. Eng. Sławomir Pietrowicz first encouraged young people to study at the Faculty of Mechanical and Power Engineering of Wrocław University of Science and Technology, and then gave a lecture on the Large Hadron Collider. Prof. Eng. Jacek Kasperski spoke about the Solar House.
The practical applications of mechatronics, pneumatics and hydraulics were discussed by Tadeusz Kret, owner of Kret i S-ka, and Danuta Wawrzkiewicz, a representative of Weber Hydraulika. Both encouraged upper-secondary school students to pursue education in mechanical professions. “Students from the schools complete internships at my company,” Kret said. “We choose the best ones. Almost all my employees are graduates of a university of technology.”
“Our company is developing rapidly. Employment has increased from 110 to 240 people over three years,” Wawrzkiewicz said. “Nevertheless, we are still looking for employees and specialists in various fields: fitters, painters, CNC lathe operators and welders. I hope that forums of this kind will result in our company having more excellent specialists in three or four years.”
The June forum was held as part of the Modernization of Vocational Education in Lower Silesia project. “This is an excellent initiative,” Maksymczyk noted. “As part of this project, teachers from Zespół Szkół Mechanicznych conducted several thousand additional teaching hours, which translated into the results of the secondary-school leaving exams and vocational examinations.”
Moreover, since December 2011, ZSM has been constructing a Vocational Education Centre and modernizing its school workshops. The work, initially intended to involve only renovating the existing school workshop hall and building a second one, evolved into construction from the ground up. Thanks to funding from Powiat Bolesławiecki, the “mechanik” will establish training centres for professions in the automotive, mechanical, and mechatronics and electronics sectors.
(information: ii)