Project "Encounter School-Company" & Open Days

The Entrepreneurs' Association of South Tyrol has been organizing the project "Encounter School-Company" for many years in order to bring young people closer to the world of business through events and targeted initiatives. One series of events in this context is the Open Days in the companies.

 

Background

The idea of the "Encounter School-Company" was born to present the variety of professions in the industrially organized companies and to convey the attractiveness of practical professions in industrial settings. Therefore, the Entrepreneurial Association of South Tyrol decided to launch the project "Encounter School-Company" in order to offer an interface between companies and schools as well as universities. The Open Day exists since 2005, although initially not in all districts. The cooperation between schools at all levels and companies is of central importance for the future of South Tyrol. This is one of the reasons why they have decided to extend this dialogue to the secondary schools, in order to support exchange and mutual acquaintance as early as possible.

 

Goals

- Getting to know local companies

- Instill an entrepreneurial spirit

- Think about basic economic concepts 

- Provide guidance

- Illustrate the variety of career opportunities in the industry

- Establish direct contacts between the educational and business worlds

 

Description of the measure

Target groups

The project has three target groups: 

-secondary schools, high schools, technical high schools and schools of vocational training of all three language groups

- Free University of Bozen/Bolzano

-teachers, students and their parents who attend the events as well as to the companies that hold the events.

What are the requirements for your format? 

The Entrepreneurs' Association of South Tyrol offers various services for its member companies, including the education sector. Three female employees are employed in this area, who serve as contact persons for secondary, vocational and high schools as well as universities for the companies.

Structure

The Open Days are held in one afternoon. There are several Open Days for the different areas, such as Pustertal, Wipptal, Vinschgau... For each area different companies offer an Open Day on the same day in their company and the students and parents or teachers can register for the visit of the desired company. On site, the companies themselves decide how to organize the afternoon, usually the Open Day includes a guided tour of the company and a presentation of the company's activities, as well as a practical activity for the young people.

 

Implementation

Actors: Who was involved in the development of the event?

Open Days are organized by the Entrepreneurial Association of South Tyrol in cooperation with interested member companies and secondary schools, technical schools and high schools.

What was needed to realize, test and finally evaluate your event?

- financial resources: the Open Days are free of charge

- human resources: organizational team of the Open Days, staff on site in the companies for the Open Days

- spatial resources: the companies provide rooms for the activities

 

Evaluation

The Open Days are very well received by both the companies and the students. The Open Days have also resulted in a number of applications for apprenticeships.

So far, the Open Days have been very well received in the various districts. The goal for the future is, of course, to strengthen the good cooperation between companies and schools even more and to attract even more students and companies to the Open Day.

 

Contact details: https://www.assoimprenditori.bz.it/de/node/2261

education@unternehmerverband.bz.it