This past August WITTENSTEIN North America welcomed it's very first apprentice from the Illinois Consortium for Advanced Technical Training (ICATT) program. Alexis Ojeda was chosen from 15 high school candidates. He will be reporting to Juergen Limbrunner, Manufacturing Manager, and will alternate eight weeks at WITTENSTEIN, and eight weeks of classroom and lab training during the next three years.

"Companies like ours have been facing the challenge of finding employees with the right skills, and ICATT fixes this problem for us. Having GACC Midwest as a facilitator makes ICATT a reliable and feasible program to partici-pate in, and WITTENSTEIN is proud to be part of the first group of companies involved,” says Dr. Anna-Katharina Wittenstein, Chairwoman of the Board, WITTENSTEIN holding, Corp.

The ICATT program is a company driven approach to Technical Training. The program combines practice, theory and work experience to train a globally competitive workforce. Upon completing the program, the apprentice receives an associate degree along with German DIHK/AHK certification. ICATT allows companies to be directly involved in the growth and education process of the apprentice.

THE ICATT PREMISE
Benchmarked on the proven and highly successful German Dual Education System, this program is an educational model developed in conjunction with technology leaders, and combines practice, theory and work experience to train a globally competitive workforce by:

1. Using industry-defined competencies and requirements as well as a standardized curriculum (benchmarked to the German “Training Profile” in the respective occupation) to create highly-skilled, capable, and readily employable graduates.

2. Creating an accredited program, in which students receive an associate’s degree along with German DIHK/AHK certification and other accreditations, followed by a subsequent 2-year employment guarantee.

3. Offering an economically feasible pathway to education in which employers provide tuition reimbursement, school stipends, and an increasing hourly wage for the duration of the training and subsequent employment.

4. Allowing companies to “grow their own” employees and ensure their own professional competency standards by being directly involved in the education/training process.