Go-Ahead for Carinthia's First Smart Learning Classes

Klagenfurt/Villach/Wolfsberg, 18 September 2019 – The start of the new school year marked the launch of the first "Smart Learning" pilot classes at four secondary technical colleges in Carinthia. In these classes, digital learning and teaching will be linked with industry-oriented practice. Infineon Austria is one of the initiators and supporters of this future-oriented educational scheme that will prepare young talents for tomorrow's digital working world, besides the Education Department of Carinthia and the four technical colleges.

The Smart Learning classes are designed as pilot classes and were launched at the beginning of the 2019/20 academic year at the secondary technical colleges in Villach, Wolfsberg, Klagenfurt Mössingerstrasse and Klagenfurt Lastenstrasse. Smart Learning means using digital technologies for teaching and studying technical subjects and linking them with analog learning experience, such as working in teams, social exchange and close connection to industry practice.

"Cooperation between schools and economic enterprises has always been a focus effort in Carinthia", says Robert Klinglmaier, Director of the Carinthian Education Department. "The Smart Learning classes are a forward-looking pilot project in this context." The concept has been designed to run for five years. In the first year, the prerequisites for systematic use will be created. There will be six classes with 191 students in total.

"The aim of the "Carinthia Coalition" is to counteract the brain drain and take measures to ensure that there are modern training provisions available for young people in Carinthia and that they find good career prospects here. This will also raise the level of education in Carinthia in the long term," said Governor Peter Kaiser. "We are creating an educational offer that lives up to the expectations and requirements of the labor market and is appropriate for a modern business location and an industrialized country", Kaiser said, who is looking forward to a new quality in school education – in particular in industry-related practice – to be guaranteed by the Smart Learning Classes.

Smart World – Smart Learning

Sabine Herlitschka, CEO Infineon Technologies Austria AG, is convinced that the Smart Learning concept is setting the course for modern education that reflects the developments in the working world. "Digital technologies offer enormous potential for the further development of practice-oriented content and didactic methods, while at the same time promoting the skills and social exchange between students and teachers. The Smart learning classes are an education flagship project; this is our contribution to making Carinthia's young technical talents ready to master the challenges of the future and to getting more young people interested in technical training", says Herlitschka.

Knowledge and know-how are at the heart of digitization, offering great potential for education where the digital skills, competences and knowledge,that give young people the head start they need for a successful transition to the labor market, are imparted. The role of schools and the role of highly motivated and committed teachers are very important. Together with the self-directed management under school autonomy, they will ensure that Smart Learning will lead to an advancement of learning and teaching processes. Cooperation with leading global companies such as Infineon plays an important role in all of this. The latest methods of teaching and learning embraced by an internationally operating company in combination with state-of-the-art, industrial tasks and challenges will be made accessible to the secondary technical colleges within the framework of Smart Learning.

Mix of modern methods: analog & digital & practical

The new Smart Learning pilot classes are an innovative approach to studying and teaching technical subjects. They include cooperation with technical companies, networking among the technical colleges, plus educational and digital practices in labs and workshops that will create sustainable knowledge to strengthen the individual skills of the students and make them fit for the modern labor market. People working in industry not only need basic technical knowledge, but also personality-building skills: they will lead projects, work in international teams, exchange knowledge with each other and use digital technologies and agile methods for this purpose.

The specialist subjects of the Smart Learning classes are Industry 4.0, Robotics, the Internet of Things, Energy Technology, E-Mobility and System Engineering. Infineon supports this forward-looking model by providing content, training, hardware and software applications as well as a digital platform for information materials. In addition, joint "Infineon Exchange Days" are planned to network teachers, students and industry experts and provide an insight into the world of high-tech industry. 

Infineon Technologies Austria AG is a group subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG, a world-leading provider of semiconductor solutions that make life easier, safer and greener. Microelectronics from Infineon reduce the energy consumption of consumer electronics, domestic appliances and industrial facilities. They make a major contribution to the convenience, security and sustainability of vehicles, and enable secure transactions in the Internet of Things.

Besides Germany, Infineon Austria is the only subsidiary within the group that pools competencies for research and development, production as well as global business responsibility. The head office is in Villach, with further branches in Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz and Vienna. With 4,201 employees from around 60 countries (including 1,813 in research and development), in the financial year 2018 (ending in September) the company achieved a turnover of € 2.9 billion. An R&D expense rate of €498 million makes Infineon Austria the strongest industrial research company in Austria.