Czech Media on Leonardo

On Monday, secondary school students from the Gustav-von-Schlor-Schule in Weiden began their placements with organisations in Karviná. The placement takes place under the Mobility Project of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, in which the Business and Banking Academy in Karviná also participates. The headmaster of this school, Petr Juras, said: “The young Germans will participate in placements in several enterprises. In their free time they will visit the town hall in Karviná, Darkov spa, the steel works in Třinec and during the weekend they will also visit the families of our students. Our students participate in placements in Weiden where they improve their language skills and perform work activities within firms in the banking, insurance and public administration sectors.

The Municipality Real Estate Agency in Havířov successfully participates in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme. The aim of the project is to develop training programmes for the new position of housing administrator. "Such people must have the necessary knowledge and skills", said Director Pavel Merta. "The position of housing administrators is very well developed in France. Their experience is an inspiration for us, as well as for Germany, Sweden and Italy." Everyone knows that the housing administrators promote social stability and crime prevention.

The project Continuing Education in Structural Connections within the European Leonardo da Vinci Programme is focused on the design of structural connections of steel structures. Experts from seven European countries participate in the project. The training materials demonstrate, through practical examples, significant savings possibilities and structural reliability improvement. The Czech Technical University will organise a seminar with nine themes concerning the design of structural connections according to European standards in November 2003.

Primary school 9th grade pupils have only one week left to prepare for their secondary school entrance examinations. Some of them participated in the so called profession diagnostics offered by Q-club in Příbram. This diagnostics exam is able to identify the real interests and abilities of an individual and compare them with their school achievements. The COMDI Programme, developed as part of the Leonardo da Vinci Project, can also identify positive and negative personal characteristics and clarify the youngster’s further educational requirements.

What to do with the unemployed? Employment services in three Czech districts tested a new technique - to provide a short language course to its job seekers and then to send them abroad for placement. Thirteen participants departed for the first placement abroad prepared by the employment service in Chrudim in co-operation with the Dutch town Ede. "What I learned from my dear tulips? To respect what is my strength and to improve what is not so good" said René Pertlová (21, secondary education), who found a job after her return at Czech Mobile.