Dr Bernd Althusmann, Minister of Culture and Education for the Federal State of Lower Saxony, has considered the establishment of 35 innovation and future centres at the Lower Saxon vocational schools a positive move.
The centres received funding from the "Initiative Niedersachsen" that is part of the federal government's second economic stimulus programme (Konjunkturprogramm II). "The innovation and future centres affect the surrounding region as givers of impulses. They enable the vocational schools to sharpen their profile and to further develop their strengths in a manner that is targeted at the respective occupational field", said the minister.
Dr Bernd Althusmann visited the innovation and future centres at two vocational schools in the region around Hanover: the Berufsbildende Schule (BBS) 6 of the region of Hanover with a centre for alternative propulsion technologies and the BBS Neustadt am Rübenberge with a centre for automation engineering and robotics.
Whereas the curriculum in Hanover focuses on almost pollutant-free mobility ranging from sun rays to fuel cells and the corresponding vehicles, the students in Neustadt receive their training in a modern, fully automated assembly line with programmable robots, milling machines and lathes.
"Our schools provide innovative vocational education of the highest degree, employing state-of-the-art technology. Our investments have paid off. In total, approximately 3.5 million Euro federal state funds and 17.4 million Euro federal governments funds went to the centres, augmented by the individual contributions from the municipal bodies governing the schools. Thus, this investment directly improves the education and vocational training of our pupils. This and in particular also the involvement of enterprises and entire industries in the respective regions considerably contribute towards the competitiveness of Lower Saxony on the whole", said Dr Bernd Althusmann.
The aim of establishing innovation and future centres in the context of the "Initiative Niedersachsen" was to create focus area schools, which design state-of-the-art technical and didactic developments in certain technological and occupational fields in an exemplary manner, resulting in all other school and non-school partners benefiting from their efforts. This helps to also strengthen regional economic links in the crafts and in the industry.
The "Initiative Niedersachsen" allocated a total of about 180 million Euro funding from federal government and federal state funds to the municipal funding programme "Schulinfrastruktur" (school infrastructure). In addition to the innovation and future centres, some 124 million Euro were allocated to the building and equipping of schools and some 35 million Euro were allocated to improving the media equipment at schools.