In order to help young people acquire professional skills and find jobs quickly, the Department of Mechanical Engineering brought together resources from the university, businesses and the Workforce Development Agency (Kaohsiung-Pingtung-Penghu-Taitung (KPPT) Regional Branch) to create the “Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing Industry-Academic Training Course”. For the 22 trainees who completed the year-long training schedule, a completion ceremony was held on August 24th. The participants also enjoyed 100% employment rate after finishing the course.
The director of the KPPT Regional Branch, Hung-tien Lin, expressed that working together, NPUST, the KPPT Regional Branch and cooperating businesses have established an Industry-Academia Cooperative Training program to train first year students. The year-round theoretical and practical course sets the students up to obtain professional second-level technician certificates and after the training, they are matched with businesses for employment. The special course also focuses on the cultivation of students’ practical skills, so that they can directly enter machinery-related industries after graduation and contribute to the society by applying what they’ve learned.
Lay Gaik Teoh, the Director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said, “with the advancement of science and technology and industrial transformation, mechanical engineers are needed in all sectors. The “Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing Industry-Academic Training Course” supplies talent to meet demand. Cooperates with domestic businesses, we are working to develop the automatic machinery industry, train students in mechanical design, and teaching them about the integration of machining and automated electromechanical technology.”
Over their freshmen year, the participating students received 1800 hours of professional and technical training at the KPPT Regional Branch during work hours, every week, Monday to Friday. Each student was trained in computer-aided three-dimensional drawing, CNC lathes and CNC milling machines. Other training was provided to help the trainees prepare for related professional certification examinations. After completing the training course, students with qualifying grades were issued training certificates and NPUST applied academic credits towards their degrees in accordance with academic regulations. And for their regular required course credits, the students attended classes at the university on Saturdays. From their second to fourth academic year, the hard working students will attend practical training at cooperating businesses (SuperAlloy Industrial Co., Ltd., Pingtung Plant or Youji Machine Ind. Co., Ltd.) from Monday to Friday, and return to NPUST on Saturdays to attend class.
Through solid training and professional courses, students are able to get in touch with the corporate workplace early on and take advantage of work opportunities during their studies. The arrangement not only solve talent shortages problems, but also sets students up for early starts in their careers with direct pathways and clearer goals to move towards.
