This project has set itself the goal of supporting technical and scientific education to help boost the economy and improve employment prospects. All in a country such as Italy, where, despite the enormous progress made in recent years, there are still shortcomings on the technical training and education fronts.
Hence Sacmi’s decision to participate, as a founder-member, in the establishment of the Fondazione Istituto Tecnico Superiore per il Made in Italy – Sistema Meccanica Automazione Industriale (ITS-SMAI), the main task of which is to organise ITS (Technological Training College) programmes lasting two years. ITS colleges were introduced at national level in 2008, their aim being to provide post-diploma courses in technological areas strategic to the economic development and competitiveness of specific regions.
So it’s no coincidence, then, that these Fondazioni are ‘provincial’ by nature yet form part of a wider regional logic. In other words, they are large enough to provide training programmes that meet effective local needs according to the characteristics of the main manufacturing areas, such as mechanics and industrial automation, which are essential to the Bolognese economy and that of the region as a whole.
The Sistema Meccanica Automazione Industriale ITS (Industrial Automation Mechanical System Technological Training College) – the other founder members of which include Istituto Superiore Aldini-Siriani, Fondazione Aldini Valeriani, Istituto Alberghetti of Imola, the faculty of Mechanical, Nuclear and Aeronautical Engineering and Metallurgy (Diem) of the University of Bologna, IMA, Marchesini Group, GD, TMC and the Province of Bologna – will thus be serving Bologna’s “packaging valley”. The courses aim to train skilled automation and mechatronic system technicians, professional figures already acknowledged in Europe’s permanent training qualification scheme, while the diploma issued by the ITS – another key innovation – will be valid throughout the 25-nation EU.
To sign up for courses candidates will require a secondary school education diploma. Registration begins in September (those interested can refer to the Istituto Aldini Valeriani-Siriani, via Bassanelli 9-11) or visit http://www.its-bologna-meccanica.it/