20   Marzo   2012

New ceramic courses at the Fermi high school in Modena

The initiative organised in cooperation with the Modena school will be back for a second year with the aim of training new professionals for the ceramic and glaze industries

Due to strong demand, the ceramic courses held at the E. Fermi industrial and technical high school in Modena with the support of Confindustria Ceramica and Federchimica Ceramicolor (Italian association of manufacturers of pigments, glazes and metal oxides for the ceramic industry) will be back again this year. The courses aim to make an active contribution to the training of young people in order to prepare them for the labour market.

The ceremony held to mark the signing of the agreement and to present awards to outstanding students saw the participation of the Chairman of Federchimica-Ceramicolor Angelo Lami, the Chairman of Confindustria Ceramica’s Training Commission Emilio Mussini, provincial councillor Egidio Pagani and the head of the Fermi high school Cristina Zanti.

The courses explore the transformation processes involved in ceramic production, an important field of specialisation in terms of the future employment prospects of school-leavers as it will help them to find a job more easily in the ceramic manufacturing area. This year the courses are open not only to penultimate year students but also to those in their final year of high school.

The summer courses will each last at least four weeks and will be held at the end of the penultimate school year on the premises of local ceramic and ceramic colour producing companies. Aiming to promote students’ interest in the specific aspects of chemistry applied to ceramic production, they offer students a wide range of teaching materials and allow them to make more informed choices about their university careers.
Given their past success, the in-service courses for teachers will also be repeated, consisting of one basic course for new teachers and one advanced course.

“Last year’s experience showed us just how much the training of these young people is crucial for the technological sectors of ceramic materials and the production processes,” explained Federchimica Ceramicolor’s Chairman Angelo Lami.

“Today’s students are tomorrow’s engineers,” said Emilio Mussini, Chairman of Confindustria Ceramica’s University, School and Training Commission. “For this reason it is important that they should be adequately trained to make product and process innovation ever more competitive for ceramic and colour producer companies.”