This Friday, with the presence of mayor Francisco Azcué y the director of the Scholarship Institute Mariano Berdiñas, the signing of the agreement between said organization, companies, and the student beneficiaries of the “Bridge to Work” program was celebrated.
This program has as its main objective to promote the development of professional skills in university students through paid internships in companies in the city.
On this occasion, the agreement was finalized between five companies from Concordia and five students from the degree programs of Social Communication, Mechatronics Engineering, Web Development, Systems Licentiate, and Public Accountant. This initiative not only offers young people the opportunity to perform professionally in a real work environment, but also generates a significant impact on society, especially on companies, allowing them to add value to their services and products.
WORK AND EDUCATION
In this regard, mayor Azcué highlighted the action “together with the government of the province of Entre Ríos, in this case also with the UTN (National Technological University) and the Teachers' Institute” and underlining the coordination with the private sector “because students from these academic institutions will be able to carry out paid internships”.
Furthermore, the mayor insisted on one of the main axes of his administration, which is working with the city's institutions, remarking that this action “fosters not only the culture of work and education, but also does so in an articulated manner with these institutions”.
SYNERGY
During the meeting, the director of the Scholarship Institute, Dr. Mariano Berdiñas, expressed his confidence in the positive impact that this program will have on the professional development of students and on the local economy.
“It is extremely important for us to link up and achieve a positive synergy between the provincial State, the municipal State, the companies, in this case from Concordia, the academic institutions, and the students themselves who will be doing these paid internships in the private sector”.
As the name indicates “it is a bridge to work and in the first instance we aspire for young people to have their insertion into private life, in a clear attempt to understand that we need the lives of future professionals to go towards the private sector and not always have the public sector as the north”, highlighted Berdiñas.
ALLIANCES
For his part, the undersecretary of the Special Unit for Strategic Projects, Licentiate Leandro Garbarino, and the director of Innovation and Knowledge Economy, Licentiate Pedro Kohn, agree that these types of agreements are a clear example that “alliances with the private sector are necessary” and explain that “this program is born from an objective proposed by the Advisory Council of the Knowledge Economy; a space integrated by representatives of civil society, such as business owners, non-governmental organizations, universities, and intermediate institutions, who meet periodically to highlight the needs that the city has in terms of knowledge development and strategic actions are proposed to achieve those objectives”.
Ivonne Saleh, Coordinator of the Advisory Council, commented: “We are very happy with what we have achieved so far. In our beginnings, it was a whole process of planning and logistics, with organizational working groups and raising awareness of what the city needs to transform the productive matrix of Concordia, but today, two years after collaborating actively, we can see the results materialized. This year we have worked closely with the employment areas of the municipality and with the companies to understand their real needs and the profiles they are looking for. With the universities, we continue to collaborate to train talent and connect that talent with new employment opportunities”.
CHALLENGES
Regarding the admission process, the Scholarship Institute states that the call has been a complete success and of a very demanding nature since, in order to participate, candidates must prove they have completed more than 50% of their degree and have passed at least one subject during the last six months.
Scholarship recipients and companies have expressed their expectations regarding the tasks they will perform. The assigned responsibilities vary from content creation for social media to programming and administrative tasks, all aligned with the profile of each candidate. For many of the young people, this will be their first work experience, which has generated great enthusiasm and a strong desire to meet the expectations of the companies.
Business owners, for their part, are proud to contribute to programs like this, which not only develop local talent, but also strengthen the capabilities of companies in the long term.
Finally, the institution informed that companies that want to sign up to participate in the program can still do so; by contacting the Directorate of Innovation of the Municipality or by going directly to the Scholarship Institute.
This program has as its main objective to promote the development of professional skills in university students through paid internships in companies in the city.
On this occasion, the agreement was finalized between five companies from Concordia and five students from the degree programs of Social Communication, Mechatronics Engineering, Web Development, Systems Licentiate, and Public Accountant. This initiative not only offers young people the opportunity to perform professionally in a real work environment, but also generates a significant impact on society, especially on companies, allowing them to add value to their services and products.
WORK AND EDUCATION
In this regard, mayor Azcué highlighted the action “together with the government of the province of Entre Ríos, in this case also with the UTN (National Technological University) and the Teachers' Institute” and underlining the coordination with the private sector “because students from these academic institutions will be able to carry out paid internships”.
Furthermore, the mayor insisted on one of the main axes of his administration, which is working with the city's institutions, remarking that this action “fosters not only the culture of work and education, but also does so in an articulated manner with these institutions”.
SYNERGY
During the meeting, the director of the Scholarship Institute, Dr. Mariano Berdiñas, expressed his confidence in the positive impact that this program will have on the professional development of students and on the local economy.
“It is extremely important for us to link up and achieve a positive synergy between the provincial State, the municipal State, the companies, in this case from Concordia, the academic institutions, and the students themselves who will be doing these paid internships in the private sector”.
As the name indicates “it is a bridge to work and in the first instance we aspire for young people to have their insertion into private life, in a clear attempt to understand that we need the lives of future professionals to go towards the private sector and not always have the public sector as the north”, highlighted Berdiñas.
ALLIANCES
For his part, the undersecretary of the Special Unit for Strategic Projects, Licentiate Leandro Garbarino, and the director of Innovation and Knowledge Economy, Licentiate Pedro Kohn, agree that these types of agreements are a clear example that “alliances with the private sector are necessary” and explain that “this program is born from an objective proposed by the Advisory Council of the Knowledge Economy; a space integrated by representatives of civil society, such as business owners, non-governmental organizations, universities, and intermediate institutions, who meet periodically to highlight the needs that the city has in terms of knowledge development and strategic actions are proposed to achieve those objectives”.
Ivonne Saleh, Coordinator of the Advisory Council, commented: “We are very happy with what we have achieved so far. In our beginnings, it was a whole process of planning and logistics, with organizational working groups and raising awareness of what the city needs to transform the productive matrix of Concordia, but today, two years after collaborating actively, we can see the results materialized. This year we have worked closely with the employment areas of the municipality and with the companies to understand their real needs and the profiles they are looking for. With the universities, we continue to collaborate to train talent and connect that talent with new employment opportunities”.
CHALLENGES
Regarding the admission process, the Scholarship Institute states that the call has been a complete success and of a very demanding nature since, in order to participate, candidates must prove they have completed more than 50% of their degree and have passed at least one subject during the last six months.
Scholarship recipients and companies have expressed their expectations regarding the tasks they will perform. The assigned responsibilities vary from content creation for social media to programming and administrative tasks, all aligned with the profile of each candidate. For many of the young people, this will be their first work experience, which has generated great enthusiasm and a strong desire to meet the expectations of the companies.
Business owners, for their part, are proud to contribute to programs like this, which not only develop local talent, but also strengthen the capabilities of companies in the long term.
Finally, the institution informed that companies that want to sign up to participate in the program can still do so; by contacting the Directorate of Innovation of the Municipality or by going directly to the Scholarship Institute.