SEAT TRANSFORMS ITS APPRENTICE SCHOOL WITH ADVANCED DEGREES IN THE LATEST TECHNOLOGIES
- The new studies feature three higher education dual Vocational Training courses, lasting around 5,000 hours each and a total of 60 available slots
- The pre-registration period for the 2018-2019 academic year is now open
- The development is a response to the transformation of industry and digitisation
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SEAT’s Apprentice School is completely overhauling its training programme, switching from middle-level Vocational Training courses to a wider range of Advanced Degree courses. The new programme is a response to the transformation of industry and digitisation and will boost Industry 4.0.
Starting this academic year, 2018-2019, the changes mean that students must be at least 18 years of age, compared to 16 previously, and have graduated from high school or completed other Vocational Training courses. SEAT is offering 60 slots in three dual training courses: 15 in Advanced Automation and Industrial Robotics, 15 in Advanced Mechanical Manufacturing Production Programming, and 30 in Advanced Industrial Mechatronics. While the average training courses in Spain feature a total of about 2,000 hours, the SEAT Apprentice School offers almost 5,000 class hours, which makes it possible to include a large amount of the latest technology subject matter.
According to SEAT Vice-president for Human Resources, Xavier Ros: “SEAT’s Advanced Degrees in dual training represent an important step for the Apprentice School as it enables us to incorporate future technologies from day one. Martorell is becoming a benchmark in digitisation and we want to prepare our future employees in order to respond to the challenges presented by Industry 4.0 and digitisation”. Furthermore, Ros emphasised that “this is further proof of the Apprentice School’s ability to adapt to current realities as well as to the future of industry, making it the only corporate training centre that has been able to train professionals for more than six decades”.
Pioneers in Dual Vocational Training
The SEAT Apprentice School is a benchmark in Spain in dual Vocational Training and last year alone it received 800 applications from students wishing to join the centre. Since it was founded in 1957, the school has prepared more than 2,700 professionals. All of today’s students, a total of 169, have a paid full-time training contract, and once they have successfully completed their studies, they are hired by SEAT with an open-ended labour contract.
The new Advanced Education courses each last three years and will still be based on the dual German system, which combines theoretical training with on the job practice in the school itself as well as at the SEAT Martorell, SEAT Barcelona or SEAT Componentes facilities. Moreover, graduates of the Apprentice School obtain a dual Spanish and German official degree.
The dual Vocational Training that the SEAT Apprentice School has been offering since 2012 has become a benchmark in Spain. It features more than twice as many class hours than the average advanced education courses, including specific training in the latest technologies, languages (English and German), programming or flexible project management, among other aspects that sets it apart from other vocational training courses.
