When people think about VET programmes, they often imagine traditional internships: a workplace, specific tasks and developing technical skills in a particular profession. For us, however, that is only the starting point. We believe vocational education can offer something much broader — exposure to new technologies, meetings with passionate professionals and the experience of learning in an international environment.
This was exactly the idea behind the two weeks spent in Rzeszów by students from Hódmezővásárhelyi SZC Szentesi Pollák Antal Technikum in Szentes, Hungary. The group joined us through the Erasmus+ VET programme, aiming to develop their skills as future electricians and industrial IT specialists.
Instead of limiting the programme to one place of practice, we invited them into different environments where technology takes many forms.
At the University of Rzeszów, students explored the process of mobile app design during workshops led by Dr Przemek Pardel. At the Rzeszów University of Technology, they encountered other areas of modern engineering — from an introduction to biomedical engineering, through the use of virtual reality in engineering, to a presentation of research projects carried out at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Another important element of the programme was discovering the region’s innovation ecosystem. At Aeropolis – Podkarpackie Science and Technology Park and the company B-Technology, students had the opportunity to see how drones are designed and tested.
There were also places where technology becomes something you can experience directly. At the Podkarpackie Science Centre “Łukasiewicz”, participants experimented with different scientific phenomena, while at the RoboLAB Local STEM Incubator, run by Dolina Wiedzy, they built their own robots and tested them in a mini robo-sumo competition.
Equally valuable were meetings with students from local technical schools — the General Władysław Sikorski School of Energy Engineering and School Complex No. 3 in Rzeszów. These encounters created space for conversations about education, technology and everyday school life in different countries.
Each day also included time for something beyond technology. Language workshops, informal discussions and exploring the city helped participants feel part of an international community. A walk through Rzeszów and a trip to Kraków gave them the opportunity to discover the culture and history of the region.
This is how we understand VET projects — as experiences that combine professional development with discovering the world, meeting new people and seeing familiar subjects from new perspectives.
We would like to thank all our partners and workshop hosts for their cooperation, and the students from Szentes for their energy, curiosity and great attitude.
The project was funded by the Erasmus+ programme.
