Securing skilled labour
UpTrain project provides new impetus for university teaching
Focusing on the future of the mobility industry: the UpTrain project has created new training opportunities for skilled workers // Photo Colourbox
The Chair for Public Transport and Mobility Management at the University of Wuppertal, headed by Prof. Dr Ulrike Reutter, was actively involved in the conception and implementation of the new training opportunities (see info box for more details), for example by organising two block seminars. Employees from transport companies and students engaged in intensive dialogue. "We used different seminar methods in order to address all participants individually," reports Matthias Geisbüsch, research assistant in the teaching and research area. In addition to phases of knowledge transfer, the repertoire also included individual work and, above all, group work and discussions.
More about the results: The new training opportunities
"Vocational Specialist in Electronics Mobility" and "Master Professional in Technological Innovation Strategies" are the names of the further training courses that have emerged from the project and have already been tried and tested with a recognised examination qualification from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK): 52 employees from transport companies have already acquired knowledge in this way that provides additional career opportunities in their professional field. The programmes are to be made permanent. It is already clear that further training to become a vocational specialist can also be offered in 2025.
The UpTrain project partners have also produced a guide to innovative training programmes with specific tips for designing future-oriented learning scenarios. This - as well as further information on the completed project - is available on the project website.
While the training participants from the companies benefit from new impulses from research and ideas from the next generation of industry professionals, students can compare the more theoretical knowledge imparted at the university with practical perspectives at an early stage. Together, challenges from everyday working life were illustrated - such as the topic of "tariff jungle in public transport " - and worked on in a fact-based and solution-orientated manner. Following the one-week block seminars, the students were each offered career counselling on starting a career in the mobility sector.
Support in the learning process
Another important component for the development of the further education formats in the project were digital learning units, in order to provide participants with the training knowledge regardless of location and time. Employees from the University of Wuppertal were involved in two digital learning units. These will now also benefit students beyond the project. The digital learning units summarise and supplement knowledge from the university courses, which focus on public transport in the bachelor's degree programmes in Transport Management Engineering and Civil Engineering. "Students can thus deepen the content from the lectures in a fun way," explains employee Marius Hellmund.
"As a university, we are aware of the increasing demand for personnel in the mobility sector. That's why it's important to us to promote dialogue between universities and transport companies and to contribute to the development of new training formats," explains Prof. Ulrike Reutter. The aim is to whet students' appetite for topics in the field of public transport and make it easier for them to study for their exams.
More about the InnoVET project UpTrain
Increasing the attractiveness, quality and equivalence of vocational education and training and initiating new co-operation between learning venues: These are the aims of the InnoVET innovation competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. A total of 17 projects were funded over four years within this framework. Among them was the UpTrain project with the core objective of developing two new commercial-technical training programmes with a Chamber of Industry and Commerce qualification for the mobility sector. The content of the training programmes is taught in a practical manner. They are intended to reflect the future challenges facing the industry and enable future-orientated specialist careers.
Transport companies, universities and industrial companies worked together in the project network, coordinated by the Academy of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV).
