AS ONE OF LITHUANIA'S LEADING INSTITUTIONS IN TRAINING ENGINEERING SPECIALISTS, KTK STRENGTHENS ITS CAPACITY FURTHER BY SIGNING CONTRACTS WITH MANUFACTURERS ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
The electronics sector has been expanding rapidly in recent years, so the shortage of specialists in this sector is already felt today. In order to response to industry needs, KTK is expanding its partners' list in the field of electronics by signing partnership agreements with market leaders HELLA Lithuania and Continental.
According to KTK director Nerijus Varnas, the partnerships, which were formalised by signing partnership agreements, had already been established at the beginning of the year as a the result of purposeful work, the fruits of which will be enjoyed by both students and business.
"The electronics sector is expanding rapidly, which is why we need specialists here and now. We see it, we monitor market demand and we look for solutions. One of them is the initiative "Future for Electronics Engineers", which aims to unite the capacities of the largest electronic components manufacturers in Kaunas region and other stakeholders and to double the number of new electronics engineering students in Kaunas in the next two years. This is where our first interactions with HELLA Lithuania and Continental took place. Our cooperation has now moved to the next level, with the establishment of some formal obligations. Today, Kaunas is the center of the electronics industry in Lithuania, and the concentration of companies in this sector is increasing the demand for specialists. Continental alone plans to hire about 300 specialists this year. Hella's plans are also very ambitious. Therefore, we are constantly developing our study programmes, and we are glad that new partners will be able to contribute to this process. Practical and laboratory work, as well as graduation theses, will be even more focused on business needs, with the help of partners we will improve the methodological content, students visit companies, and their representatives will give lectures and often visit KTK says" N. Varnas.
According to the head of KTK, not only the education and motivation of students is important in these partnerships, but also the opportunity to retrain the existing employees of partners enterprises.
“Attention to our students is very important. Therefore, we are very pleased that the managers of both companies who came to sign the agreements also answered students' questions, shared their experiences and highlighted the future prospects of the sector. But it's not just career motivation and opportunities for our students that was an important aspect of the meetings - there was a lot of talk about retraining potential employees in the market for Hella and Continental. We have been working with our other partners - Kitron - on a similar principle for seven years. Initially, we set up and opened the first IPC-compliant Kitron Electronics Assembly Laboratory in Lithuania and the Baltic States, after which we retrained more than 1,500 employees for the company. More than 140,000 EUR were invested in the laboratory for this purpose, of which more than 100,000 EUR was provided by the business. In addition to Kitron employees, more than 600 students developed their skills in the laboratory. At the end of 2020, it was decided to expand the technical capabilities of the Kitron Electronics Assembly Laboratory and reinvest more than 30,000 EUR”.
The ongoing activities, to which the advertising campaign “Future for Electronics Engineers” launched in 2021 and the attention paid to the field of electronics engineering in the public space have significantly contributed, are gradually being reflected in admission results. According to the head of KTK, the number of applicants has increased by as much as 40 percent in the last year. “It is very gratifying that young people are also seeing prospects in this area and starting to choose it. While engineering has never been an easy path, it is an extremely promising and rewarding choice. Of course, it took a lot of effort and a long time to work purposefully for the results to start showing. Names such as HELLA and Continental also make a significant contribution to the students' choice of an engineering career. These companies are some of the most coveted places in the country for work and internship, characterised by a high business culture, a value system attentive to the employee and, of course, an enticing salary,” says KTK Director N. Varnas.
