The Saarland is a destination, alongside Japan, Australia, France and other nation states, in this year’s training programme ‘A Thousand Teachers abroad for Further Education in Science’, organised by the Indonesian government. The Indonesian Minister for Education and Culture Muhadjir Effend sent approximately 1,000 of the most capable experts to have their professional competence intensified.
The 16 best mechatronics trainers in Indonesia arrived in the Saarland to receive further education in individually tailored training sessions at the motor vehicle association of the Saarland. The astonishing thing is that the Saarland is the destination for this campaign in its capacity as German federal state, not as a European nation state.
At today’s reception at Science Park Saar at the Saarbrücken University campus the gwSaar Managing Director Thomas Schuck welcomed Perry Pada, the representative of the Indonesian Embassy in Berlin, and an Indonesian government delegation in the presence of Secretary of State for Industry Jürgen Barke. The guests included the mechatronics trainers, who have recently completed their further education.
Secretary of State for Industry Jürgen Barke said in his speech: “We look forward to future exchanges and long-term cooperation with our Indonesian partners. We see the fact that the Saarland as a German federal state is one of the destinations in the Indonesian state programme as an honour for this automobile industry location. Our federal state accepts current challenges, even in times of change within the sector, and asserts its position as an automobile state.”
The emerging island state of Indonesia and the Saarland want to work together in the future also. Further cooperation is planned, primarily in the sector of innovative technology. A start has been made. The successful further education of the Indonesian colleagues and the mutual exchange of specialist knowledge have laid the foundation stone for subsequent projects. We are already looking forward to June, when a conference of the Indonesian Ministry for Research, Technology and University Education will be held at the Audimax at Saarbrücken University. The event is the 3rd Indonesia Innovation Day, which takes place annually. This year’s event will be held in the Saarland, after previously having been in the Netherlands and Japan. The Asian visitors include entrepreneurs and centres of excellence, presenting their innovative products and looking for concrete development partners. This is a good opportunity for players on both sides to discuss long-term cooperation.
The contact to the Indonesians was established within the international gwSaar network, which works continually around the world for awareness of the Saarland as a business location and actively contacts investors who are willing to establish businesses here. In this case it is Martin Bernhardt, project developer and trusted lawyer of the Indonesian government, who is supporting the Saarland trade promoters here.
gwSaar Managing Director Thomas Schuck said the following: “One of the trumps that we hold in our hand for location marketing is Saarland’s well-known characteristic of offering short communication links. And in fact we set up activities with our Indonesian partners, currently the mechatronics training, in the shortest time in cooperation with our network partners and the motor vehicle association of the Saarland – allowing us to convince the Indonesian government.”
Niklas Burmester, on the management team at the motor vehicle association told us:
“Motor vehicle training sessions are our core competence. Unusual training projects such as the training sessions for the Indonesian trainers challenge us and expand our horizons. This increases our chances of still being successful as providers of education in a mobile world that is characterised by digitalisation and alternative drives.”
The trainers at the motor vehicle association of the Saarland are experts in their field and also experienced in adult education, both domestically and internationally.
Under the overall leadership of Dirk Scheidt they have provided further education, both didactic and professional, over the last three weeks of full days (8 am to 4.30 pm) to the 16 best motor vehicle trainers in Indonesia. The programme comprised the following topics: mechatronics training, basic electronics, current brake and chassis systems, PWM controls (pulse width modulation), signal transfer, CAN-bus system function and diagnosis, automatic gears, engine management, high voltage drive technology and diagnosis strategies.
From a didactic point of view the topics were the independent production and presentation of work sheets, the use of different methods and information on the dual system of training.
The objectives of the further education were getting to know current vehicle technology and assured diagnosis within systems as well as the process of communication for technical content to form a perfect, action-oriented learning unit, customised to everyday work situations in Indonesia.
Of course both daily prayer times and Friday prayers were taken into account for the training plan. The Indonesian guests spent one Sunday in Paris.
