Georg Taubenrauch, who has served as chief executive officer of the South Thuringia Chamber of Crafts since April of this year, and University President Prof. Gundolf Baier met today for an initial introductory meeting. Also present was Tim Rauschenberg, deputy director of the Rohr-Kloster Vocational Training and Technology Center (BTZ), which is administratively part of the South Thuringia Chamber of Crafts.
Specifically, the discussion focused on potential collaborations in the joint training of young people. Possible areas of focus include closer cooperation on dual study programs or opportunities for training vocational school teachers. “We can envision organizing another meeting, this time at the Rohr Education Campus, with the relevant stakeholders from the university,” said Georg Taubenrauch. He noted that the first step is to get to know one another and take a look behind the scenes to understand what each educational partner actually does. At such networking meetings, further ideas could then emerge and be pursued to develop new projects.
Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences and the South Thuringia Chamber of Crafts have been collaborating since 2008 with the goal of improving the region’s competitiveness. The collaboration to date has focused on the transfer of knowledge and technology between the university and the skilled trades sector, as well as on the exchange of information and the matching of skilled partners for projects in the skilled trades sector.