Apart from bringing salaries for almost 750 workers, German company Gruner has brought something even more valuable to Southern Serbia: its dual education model, which provides young people with an opportunity to gain employment immediately upon graduation, and to plan their future in their home region
Gruner has been cooperating with the Vlasotince Technical Vocational Secondary School since 2015, when the programme to train the first generation of industrial mechanics was launched, while today future mechatronics technicians, electronics technicians and CNC operators are being trained here.
Alongside its production of smart meter relays, “start-stop systems” for the automotive industry, injection moulded plastics and metal parts for its own purposes, Vlasotince-based company Gruner Serbia is also renowned for the dual education programme that it conducts in this southern Serbian town. This is a company that’s proud of all its workers, both production personnel and highly educated experts, and particularly the youngest employees, who arrived straight from school benches.
The dual education programme was launched in cooperation with the Technical Vocational Secondary School in 2015 and has developed gradually since then. Beginning with just one department of industrial mechanics, the initial profile, it has grown to now encompass the training of future mechatronics and electronics technicians and CNC operators. According to Gruner representatives, continuing cooperation with the school forms the basis of the company’s further development, production capacities’ expansion and future increases in employee numbers.
Gruner is a company that’s proud of all its workers, and particularly the youngest ones, who arrived straight from school benches
Plans include the opening of a cutting- edge training centre that would provide students with tangible, practical knowhow. Approval has been given for the equipment required for mechatronics technicians to be under the ownership of the school and used at Gruner’s training centre, where all trainees will be provided with appropriate work and study conditions. The goal is for these young people to complete their schooling and earn their diploma having acquired all the necessary skills and knowhow defined by both the curriculum and the needs of employers – not only in Vlasotince, but also among other companies throughout Serbia.
The pupils of the Technical Vocational Secondary School that are included in the dual education programme have stressed how they’re extremely satisfied to know that, thanks to their hard work, study and dedication, they will be able to gain employment as soon as they graduate. Gruner’s owners are also satisfied, because dual education has helped them to quickly find professional personnel for their specific needs. If the dual education model were to be conveyed to also include higher education institutions, colleges would be producing young experts capable of performing specific tasks immediately upon graduation.