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2013|14 Annual Report Fraunhofer IGB

41 BOGY – vocational and academic career orientation at academic high schools 18 high-school students completed their “BOGY” internships at the Fraunhofer IGB in 2013. They gained insights into the work of scientists and graduate students in different disci- plines (engineers, biologists, chemists and physicists) as well as finding out about typical “recognized” (i.e. requiring formal training) vocational occupations in a research institute, such as technical assistant or laboratory technician. The students were introduced to various working groups in the respective departments and their laboratories, assisted on real projects, became acquainted with methods for identifying particular substances and helped out with the planning and performing of experiments as well as the documentation of the test re- sults. The internship gives the youngsters a detailed picture of the work that goes on in a research institute and helps them to make better-informed career choices. Open day for university students In November 2013, science and engineering students from various universities and universities of applied sciences visited the Fraunhofer campus in Stuttgart. Through presentations, interviews and tours they had the chance to find out about the institutes’ highly varied fields of work as well as oppor- tunities for starting their careers at the Fraunhofer-Gesell- schaft – in particular at the Stuttgart institutes. Answering 2 3 the question “Why not go into industry straight away?” the participants were shown the various career paths at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Extremely positive feedback and con- stantly high numbers of participants, reflect the success of the event, which has taken place once a year since 2007. Training at the Fraunhofer IGB The IGB is not only dedicated to the training of young people pursuing academic studies; we are also expressly commit- ted to enabling young people of all backgrounds to train at Fraunhofer. For over ten years we have been providing young- sters with apprenticeships in the recognized (requiring formal training) vocational occupations of office administrator, chem- ical lab technician and biology lab technician and since 2013 also of IT specialist for system integration. When not attend- ing vocational training college, the apprentices have the op- portunity to work alongside more experienced colleagues in the many diverse fields of activity of a research institute, and so learn the handiwork for a career in research or industry. Many of our apprentices choose to go on to study or to par- ticipate in an advanced occupational training course designed for full-time employees and sponsored by the institute. 3

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