Category: Applications

Within the framework of the Interreg VI-A Austria-Hungary program, the Next GEn project (ATHU-0100024), which started on April 1, 2024, involves the Faipari Tudományos Alapítvány (FATA) as a project partner.

The proportion of renewable energy sources (wind energy, photovoltaic energy and biomass energy) in the Austrian-Hungarian program region is increasing, and this trend will continue in the future thanks to targeted expansions.

There is an increasing demand for skilled labor in the field of renewable energy. However, there is already a shortage in the Austrian-Hungarian border region in the field of maintenance, servicing, and further expansion related to renewable energy. According to experts’ estimates, more than 40,000 RES specialists will be needed by 2030 in the Austrian-Hungarian program region alone. The next generation, the young people, play a decisive role in solving this problem, in reducing the shortage of skilled workers, and thereby contribute to a greener future, climate protection, and reducing the negative effects of climate change.

In summary, the goal of the Next GEn project is to alleviate the shortage of skilled labor in the renewable energy sector in the medium and long term by developing a multi-layered innovative career guidance model for 10-15-year-old students who are about to choose their further education.

The project is implemented within the framework of the cooperation programme Interreg VI-A Austria-Hungary with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund.

The Foundation, as the lead partner of the EDUWOOD (ATHU166) project supported by the INTERREG V-A Cross-border Cooperation Programme Austria-Hungary, has developed an online educational platform as the main outcome of the project. The project was motivated by the fact that woodwork education has problems with meeting the needs of the labour market in cross-border relations, leading to drop-outs due to a lack of motivation of students or delays in the completion of the (graduate) training.

On the Hungarian side, education is not sufficiently practice-oriented, the project approach is not wide enough, and the number of professionals involved is still low. Nevertheless, there is a growing demand for the experiential use of online tools. The project will support the development of practice-oriented, project-based woodwork education in the border region in cooperation with educational and industrial partners.

In the first phase of the platform’s operation, following the implementation of mass open online courses (MOOCs), an online learning platform was created, aiming at “skill sharing”. It aims at increasing student motivation and “providing educational experiences” by building communities. In this way, we offer an innovative and project-based tool for woodwork education and have organised career-oriented events, field trips and motivational training for primary and secondary school students. The platform offers a platform for cooperation between teachers, trainers, students and pupils from secondary and higher education institutions in the cross- border region.

In the project EFOP-3.2.5-17 Career Orientation, with special emphasis on the development of MTMI skills and competences in the institutions of the Sopron Education Centre, our Foundation – as a contractor – was responsible for the following project elements:

During the project, we organized 4 career orientation days at the University of Sopron, and these events aimed at supporting the career orientation of students, with a special focus on the choice and promotion of technical careers, such as wood- and paper industry, mechatronics, industrial products and design, as well as IT and the development of related competences. The aim was to introduce students to the diversity of professions and the opportunities offered by their career models through interactive and creative programmes. The events also aimed at promoting informed adult career building as well as a successful labour market participation in the future while acquiring necessary skills for doing that.

During the project, 30 interactive programmes were organised for groups of 20 upper primary school students at the LIGNEUM Visitor Centre (University of Sopron).

In addition, the project included 5 sessions of workplace presentations related to MTMI disciplines for groups of 25 students in classes 7-12. During the study tours, students visited engineering workplaces where they could get to know the daily life of the enterprises involved in the project and the representatives of the MTMI (Mathematics, Science, Technology and Informatics) specialisation in a playful way. The laboratories and workshops of the Natural Resources Research Centre (NRRC) of the University of Sopron provided an excellent opportunity to demonstrate engineering work (laboratories, training facilities), and therefore the project included 2 visits to the NRRC. In addition, the project organised a thematic and professional summer camp for 50 students.