THE SLOVAK arm of the German IT company T-Systems is inspired by the experiences of its parent company and has launched a pilot dual education project with the Secondary Electro-Technical School in Košice. The first 30 students began attending information communication technologies (ICT) lectures in September.
“T-Systems Slovakia already employs more than 2,800 people in Košice and it plans to grow further,” Martin Džbor, strategic development director and one of the project authors, told SITA newswire. “This is why we got inspired by Germany, where the model of dual education is successful.”
The pilot project will help to fulfil the vision of the Košice IT Valley cluster to create 4,000 new jobs in ICT by 2020.
As Guido Glania, an executive member of the Slovak-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SNOPK) board, said in April when the project was introduced, T-Systems Slovakia contributes through this project to the realisation of the chamber’s priorities in Slovakia mainly in the area of specialised education quality.
“We are ready to support the project of dual education for it to achieve the prestigious SNOPK certificate,” said Glania. “The dual advanced vocational training graduates would be receiving education in T-Systems Slovakia equal to their German counterparts.”
Dual education connects theoretical schooling and classroom learning with hands-on development of hard and soft skills in the workplace. The amount of practical education is as high as 70 percent of the overall syllabus allocated which represents 1,600 hours of practical exercises across three years and a further 1,050 hours of on-site professional practice.