Taipei's Department of Education Commissioner Tsan-chin Tseng and Siemens Ltd., Taiwan Vice President Tino Hildebrand signed a memorandum of cooperation in this regard. The ceremony was witnessed by Taipei Deputy Mayor Chin-jun Chen and Siemens Ltd., Taiwan President and CEO Erdal Elver.
Taipei City in 2013 took the lead in Taiwan by initiating a
vocational training program that offered students learning opportunities
overseas. That marked the beginning of cooperation with Siemens Ltd., Taiwan,
and over the past six years the German company has arranged for learning opportunities
at the Siemens Technik Akademie in Berlin, SITRAIN training center in Nuremberg,
and automated factories operated by Siemens. This initiative has provided
students with professional technology learning opportunities and the ability to
learn about other cultures, while also helping to enhance the quality of
vocational and technical education in Taiwan.
Taipei City and Siemens are committed to providing even more
opportunities for technical and vocational students to learn about the latest
international technology developments and to cultivate talent in related
fields. To this end, Taipei and Siemens are entering into a cooperation project
that will facilitate learning about German technical and vocational education
in an academic setting, followed by practical applications in the corporate
environment. This combination will be crucial in training skilled individuals.
Sending students overseas to learn and gain experience will help to broaden
their international perspectives and bring Taiwan's vocational and technical
education methods and standards better in line with the rest of the world. This
cooperation between industry and academia will pave the way for students to
learn about technology in advanced nations, along with their educational culture.
Today, Taipei's Department of Education Commissioner Tsan-chin Tseng
and Siemens Ltd., Taiwan Vice President Tino Hildebrand signed a memorandum of
cooperation in this regard. The ceremony was witnessed by Taipei Deputy Mayor
Chin-jun Chen and Siemens Ltd., Taiwan President and CEO Erdal Elver. Working
towards creating a cooperation blueprint for the city, both parties hope that
the cultivated professional talents will be able to win respect and recognition
from society, helping to underpin thriving development of vocational and
technical education in Taiwan.
The Digital Talents Development program, which adopts the Siemens
Automation Cooperates with Education (SCE) module, is especially
designed for Taipei’s municipal vocational high school students. By leveraging
Siemens Mechatronics System Certificate Program (SMSCP), Siemens’ software and
hardware equipment, and educational resources from Germany, the program will
train students to become international professionals in the digital
manufacturing field. In addition, internships at Siemens related companies will
be assigned to students after the training courses, combining theories with
industry practice and learning from it. Through the program, vocational high
schools will substantially increase their international resources and
experiences in the field of automation, effectively minimizing the gap between
academia and industry. In addition, the program will bring significant benefits
to vocational high schools when it comes to the design and implementation of
digital manufacturing courses and enhance young talents’ competitiveness in
Taiwan.
Commissioner Tseng remarked that expertise and skills are
complementary. Furthermore, enormous resources and time need to be spent to
nurture the professional talents urgently needed to realize Industrie 4.0. The
resources introduced by Siemens Ltd., Taiwan in conjunction with efforts by
Taipei will enhance the abilities of vocational talent, and it is hoped that
the cooperation between the two sides will produce an even greater number of
talented individuals in technical and vocational fields. Erdal Elver, President and CEO of Siemens
Taiwan indicated, “Industrial upgrade is one of major strategies to sustain a
country’s international competitiveness. Technology innovations and talent
development share an equal importance in this regard. Siemens has been focusing
on talent development and been in close cooperation with official educational
institutions worldwide, aiming to maximize the synergy of theoretical knowledge
and practical applications. Siemens Taiwan is honored to cooperate with Taipei
City Government for the Digital Talent Development Program. Together, we will
enhance the linkage between academia and industry and international
competitiveness of Taiwanese talents.”