The visit, the first of its kind for the college and its European visitors, was organised through Erasmus, the EU initiative behind exchange programmes for university students.
Fifteen specialist construction trade apprentices from RBZ1 College in Kiel spent two weeks in Cambridge working alongside full-time students and apprentices to find out more about each other’s working methods.
They rounded off the visit with a team competition and the presentation of claw hammers to the winners – a tool used every day by construction workers in the UK but virtually unknown in Germany.
Mick Jones, deputy head of construction at CRC, said it had been a highly informative visit for both colleges.
“The visit was a first for Erasmus as well as for us and was very successful. Our students learned a lot from the visitors, who carried out practical work alongside them and worked on projects, including renewable energies,” he said.
“Chris Styles and Colin Leonard from our construction faculty arranged a busy programme which included visits to local trades companies and the Kiel apprentices found it very informative.”
Roman Spauka, from RBZ1, said it had been a very well organised visit which had helped all the students and apprentices find out more about the European labour market.
“The two colleges are very comparable and I hope we can arrange a return visit for CRC apprentices and students to come over to Kiel. It would be great to have a bigger and closer connection,” he said.
Image: The winning German team with CRC carpentry student James Thorne, 17, (right)
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MEDIA ENQUIRIES
For more information, please contact Lynn O’Shea, Cambridge Regional College Press Officer, on 01223 418773 or email loshea@camre.ac.uk
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