BCIT welcomed a group of six visiting students, accompanied by instructor Helmut Kotter, from Staatliche Berufsschule Bad Aibling (BSAIB) in Germany for a two-week exchange in our Machinist program. BSAIB is a public vocational school in Bavaria, the manufacturing and industrial hub of Germany, and provides training for mechanic and machinist students through the German system “Duale Ausbildung.” This system combines apprenticeship and vocational education – connecting students with industry and employers.
BSAIB initially reached out to BCIT International in March 2022 about a collaboration between our machinist programs. The focus was to build international partnerships and to provide our students with exposure to other applied schools. After a year of discussion on a potential collaboration and a visit to the BCIT Burnaby Campus sponsored by The Joachim-Herz-Foundation, an MOU was developed, negotiated, and signed on March 2, 2023 between BCIT International, the BCIT Machinist Group at the School of Energy, and BSAIB in Germany. The first-of-its-kind partnership, BSAIB’s partnership with BCIT was featured in German local and national printed and TV news media.
During the exchange at BCIT, the visiting students paired up with our CNC Machinist Technician students to be taught by BCIT instructor, Marte Arreola. The students worked in groups of five (two BSAIB students and three BCIT students) to design and build a project to take back to Germany. The goal was to produce and assemble a toy truck, judged for its style and speed by Department Head Stefano Pettenon. The students worked together using computer aided drafting and manufacturing to complete their projects.
It was an enriching learning experience for all students as they each brought their unique skill sets to complement one another. Students from BSAIB and BCIT greatly enjoyed this opportunity to be immersed in different manufacturing strategies from halfway across the world.
A group of three instructors from BSAIB also visited BCIT, toured our campuses, and were thrilled to learn about our state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to Computer Numerical Control (CNC) and manual machining. Notable highlights of the experience included meeting The Consul General of The Federal Republic of Germany in Vancouver, Mr. Marc Eichhorn, at the BCIT Downtown Campus, as well as a hearty farewell gathering discussing the exchange experience wins and improvements for future visiting groups. The Consul General, Mr. Eichhorn highlighted the importance of these international partnerships to raise awareness on the importance of apprenticeships in trades, and in applied education in general. The visiting students also received a certificate of completion at the end of this day.
Overall, our collaboration with BSAIB allowed students to have a dynamic and international experience between schools, helped strengthened BCIT’s relationship with Germany, and showcased BCIT’s expertise. Given the success of this initiative, we are striving for the internationalization of various trade programs across the Institute moving forward. BCIT looks forward to sending our students and faculty to BSAIB in 2024.
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