News

Good news for young adepts of technical and engineering sciences – “Farmochem” and "StanLab" companies became sponsors of the National Vocational Olympiad "A Year Before the Diploma". The cooperation agreement was signed on October 17, 2023.

The Olympiad is organized by the Lublin Self-Government Teacher Training Center in cooperation with Lublin University of Technology and the Energy School Complex in Lublin.

According to Krzysztof Staruch, director of the Lublin Self-Government Teacher Training Center, this event is a continuation of the Lublin Interschool Vocational Competition "A Year Before the Diploma" which has been taking place for 16 years and aims to promote and support students preparing for an engineering career. – We treat the Olympiad as a platform allowing young people to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in the field of technical and engineering sciences. We need specialists in these fields on the labor market.

The first edition of the Olympiad took place a year ago. 212 participants from 53 technical schools from 9 voivodeships took part in the national stage.

– Out of the 68 winners of the central stage, 14 students became symbolically students of Lublin University of Technology. If they pass their high school final exams this school year, they will be our students next year. For them, it is a dream come true to study at a technical university, and for our university, it is an opportunity to work with ambitious and talented young people - says Prof. Paweł Droździel, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs of LUT.

Anna Smolińska, director of the Energy School Complex in Lublin, encourages her students to participate in the Olympiad: – The Olympiad is an interesting alternative for students who are considering further development of their professional career after graduating from school and plan to continue their education at universities such as Lublin University of Technology.

As Zbigniew Mach, president of Farmochem, reminds us, young people chose general schools in the past, which made vocational education lose its importance: – Currently, we experience a lack of qualified staff in professions such as electricians, mechanics and turners. These are professions that are of key importance for the development of industry, and currently they constitute a real "gap" in access to qualified labor. Thanks to the Olympiad, the importance of vocational education has significantly increased. That's why we started this venture, believing that it was an important step not only for our company, but also for the entire industry.

Krzysztof Dudziak, president of StanLab, thinks similarly: – We believe that investing in future employees is a key element of our development. We trade in chemical raw materials. We employ approximately 100 people, and within the entire group this number is nearly 400. Nowadays, finding the right employees can be a challenge, so we are glad that we can support the Olympiad, which promotes technical and engineering education among young people.

Teresa Misiuk, Lublin Education Superintendent, thanked the company presidents for joining the project, which is of great importance for the development of vocational education: – Together we will strive to raise the profile of this form of education to provide the labor market with qualified specialists. Choosing a vocational school was not always perceived as the best direction, which resulted in a certain underestimation of vocational education. However, we currently see a clear need for its reconstruction and development. That is why we have been carrying out activities to promote vocational education and vocational schools for 8 years.