Germany has a variety of different kinds of schools and Universities in order to study or do a training on the job. While studying at a university, the students get a lot of theoretical information on the subject they chose.

At a University of Applied Sciences, the students also have a practical semester where they do a training on the job in a cooperating company. In our case, they would work at Daimler, BASF, Siemens or other companies in Germany and the Rhine-Neckar region and apply issues they learned during their studies of automation technologies or renewable energies up to electrical engineering. This trains them how to adjust and be flexible later in their job. Sometimes, the students need to deal with challenges that might occur. They have to solve a technical problem they might not learn about in their theoretical studies.

What is better – doing the practical semester in a big or small company?

All companies have certain systems how to train their students. Bigger companies offer structured training plans where the students might only get to know a unit and stay there for the whole training, often working on a special project. In smaller companies, the chances to get to know very different departments and get an overall view of things might be larger. Here, students need to be more flexible and “hands on.”

Companies, we have already cooperated with are: Wirsol, INP, Rockwell Collins, Audi, Daimler, BASF, Evobus and more.

In any case, the practice is a great opportunity for every student to learn for their future job and to be in contact with companies that might be the future employer. It´s a great opportunity to start building a network in their future industry. Companies are very much interested in employing graduates that have had insights into their company and company structure already.

At Hochschule Mannheim all Electrical Engineering students get to do an internship semester in their fifth semester. You find further information here.