FACULTY OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY AND SIEMENS ACADEMY STEP UP COOPERATION

FACULTY NEWS

Engineer is more than ever a bottleneck profession. Quantitatively and qualitatively. An enforced collaboration between the academic and the business world can offer solace. In the Siemens Industry Academy, the Faculty of Engineering Technology at KU Leuven and some fifty industrial players in Flanders have found each other.

Companies are begging for engineers. Over 3,000 vacancies for technology engineers are not getting filled. “The problem is twofold,” says Prof. Bert Lauwers, dean of the faculty. “On the one hand, there has been too little intake of young people into engineering faculties for years. On the other hand, efforts are needed to bring students into contact with engineering practice earlier and more intensively. Together with the Siemens Industry Academy, we want to kill two birds with one stone: offer an engineering education that is attractive to both prospective students and the purchasing market.”

“Through the Academy and using our expertise, materials and tools, Siemens aims to bring students and educational institutions closer to the job market,” notes Eddy Nelis, Senior Vice-President of Siemens. “Our investment in education leads to a stronger new generation of engineers, which is crucial to support the economy. Conversely, industry also benefits from the valorisation of scientific research at universities and the timely detection of young talent.”

Internships

In 2019, KU Leuven became the first Belgian university to step into the Siemens Industry Academy. Students from the Faculty of Engineering Technology kicked off. Twenty-four third-year students from Group T Campus were linked to ten hightech companies for a so-called internship as part of their Engineering Experience. The teams’ assignment was to design an automated machine at one of the partner companies. The tasks and responsibilities were neatly divided. Siemens vouched for the automation, digitisation technology and technical training. The industrial partners were responsible for project definition, professional skills training and coaching by a company mentor. And the campus took care of administrative handling and evaluation coordination.

This collaboration is now being greatly expanded. At each stage of the programme, there will be moments or periods when students will be immersed in engineering practice. This ranges from job shadowing by freshmen over guest lectures and company visits to an engineering experience in company, master’s theses and an internship.

Embed

“The great added value of these formulas is that future engineers acquire not only technical knowledge but also crucial ‘professional skills’ with which they can make a difference in their careers as well as already in their education,” Prof. Lauwers said.

This structural embedding of business reality should also make the programme more attractive to young people. “If they can experience from the outset how varied and fascinating the engineering profession really is, they will also feel more attracted to the study programme because it reflects it,” Prof. Lauwers believes.

There is a growing belief in companies that they have a part to play in the choice of study and training of future engineers. “Engineers are indispensable in the economy. The industry has everything to gain from the timely detection of young talent and an increased inflow into the labour market,” concludes Thierry Van Eeckhout, Vice-President Sales of Siemens Digital Industries.

Yves Persoons

Prof. Bert Lauwers, Garo Tombazian and Thierry Van Eeckhout

© Johan Van Droogenbroeck