Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) students have recently acquired the possibility to undertake internships in Volfas Engelman, the oldest in Lithuania production company.
The partnership agreement with Volfas Engelman, which was signed in the end of the last month, will provide KTU food technology students with unique possibility to complete internship in state-of-the-art beverage production competence centre Volfas Engelman Studio. More than 1 million euros were invested into the establishment of the Studio opened in autumn 2017.
“Successful collaboration between science and business contributes to promotion of innovations, which, in turn, strengthen the competitiveness of our state. These partnerships often drive creation of new products and services – it is very important to commercialise the ideas, to aim for economic profit. Otherwise the ideas would remain in laboratories”, says Tadas Prasauskas, Technology Transfer Project Manager at KTU National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre.
He emphasises the importance of this collaboration for students: they often look into the University’s partnerships before choosing the study programme, as the young people are highly motivated to find best opportunities for their professional career. Internship is one of the best ways to establish a contact with a prospective employer and to try out work environment.
Likewise, the students, future young professionals are valued by business representatives.
“Our company, as many other large production businesses in Lithuania, is facing the issues connected to employees’ emigration. Many young people choose studies and career abroad, therefore we value cooperation with higher education institutions: we need to work side by side in order to train and to keep new generation of professionals in the market”, says Marius Horbačauskas, General Manager of Volfas Engelman.
The agreement between Volfas Engelman and KTU includes provision of incentive scholarships, established by foundation of Finnish Olvi business group, which owns Volfas Engelman. The Foundation supports students in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This year, 3 thousand euros from the foundation will be allocated to the most talented KTU students.
“Scholarships increase motivation as it makes you realise that your efforts and work is valued. Also, it’s very rewarding to see your research results implemented into practice. We have acquired practical skills related to the real job in the enterprise, and the company had the opportunity to get acquainted with the research for improvement of their products and for creating new ones”, says Greta Stankevičiūtė food technologies master’s student, who has been awarded Volfas Engelman scholarship for the research.
KTU Sponsor Scholarships is being awarded twice a year. The amount and the criteria of the scholarship is often defined by the Sponsor. Usually these are one-time scholarships and their amount varies from 300 to 1,000 euros. Last year 138 KTU students were awarded Sponsor Scholarships, which amounted to 83.5 thousand euros.
More about scholarships available for KTU students here.
