January 4, 2021

The country needs innovative young people, but many lack confidence in technical disciplines.

How do young people shape the future in times of major transformations and crises, such as the climate crisis? What contribution can and must "technology" make here? To what extent will the engineers of the future have to "tick" differently than those of the past?

In order to master future challenges, in the technical professions, in addition to up-to-date theoretical knowledge and practical understanding, personal enthusiasm, a love of innovation and a view of the big picture are particularly important. And this applies to both technical apprenticeships and academic engineering professions. But unfortunately, it is seen time and again that although young people are interested in technology in general, they are often unsure whether they can even manage a technical apprenticeship or a course of study in the technical field.

Much too often, personal interest in technology is overridden by a vague and at the same time outsized fear of "higher mathematics." The underestimation of one's own abilities in the STEM field is unfortunately also proven by studies, especially among young women. Often, despite good to very good grades and an interest in technology, they are not confident about either training or studying in this field. The same uncertainty often exists among graduates with a subject-specific university entrance qualification.

For children from families with a migration or refugee background, there is a further uncertainty: the confusion and great diversity of the German education system after the end of the actual school career. This uncertainty and the lack of experience, especially in the technical area of the German education system, has fatal social consequences, because: society needs precisely these young women and men to master the future challenges! Politicians have recognized this need and, what's more, are taking action with the joint project "Verzahnte Orientierungsangebote zur beruflichen und akademischen Ausbildung (VerOnika)" from the one-sided wave of academization of the past: Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and the Karlsruhe Chamber of Industry and Commerce are therefore jointly offering a new service precisely for this target group as part of this joint project and with funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): the orientation semester TWIN! provides orientation in the technical field both on training and study opportunities and on career prospects. This takes place exemplarily by the orientation in three technical apprenticeships and three courses of studies in the professional fields of electrical engineering and information technology, mechanical engineering and mechatronics. A focus can, but does not have to be chosen. For graduates of 2019 and 2020 with a general or subject-linked university entrance qualification and interest, the program will start in February 2021 with 15 places, of which a few are still available. The places are assigned by the IHK Karlsruhe in the chronological order of registration.