District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst visits StudiumPlus in Frankenberg

Four weeks ago he took office as District Administrator of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, now Jürgen van der Horst visited the Frankenberg campus of StudiumPlus. He made a clear statement about the location in Frankenberg, coupled with the clear intention to develop this location further.

StudiumPlus, the dual study programme of the Central Hesse University of Technology (THM) and the CompetenceCentre Duale Hochschulstudien - StudiumPlus e.V. (CCD), opened its campus in Frankenberg in 2009, followed by another campus in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, in Bad Wildungen, in 2010. Both locations have developed very well since then - more than 100 young people study in Frankenberg, and more than 60 in Bad Wildungen. StudiumPlus has its headquarters in Wetzlar, and in addition to Frankenberg and Bad Wildungen there are four other branch campuses.

The concept of qualifying young people for the region in cooperation with companies in the region is "exactly tailored to our needs in the district", said van der Horst. And because the Frankenberg campus is developing so well and space has become scarce in the premises it moved into twelve years ago, the district wants to ensure that new premises are found for StudiumPlus.

"We offer dual studies where people live," said Prof. Dr Jens Minnert, Deputy Director of the Academic Centre for Dual University Studies (ZDH), describing the core idea of StudiumPlus. The branch offices are backed by the THM, Germany's second largest university of applied sciences. In Frankenberg, too, StudiumPlus guarantees practical and personal training in small groups with a high success rate, said Campus Director Prof. Dr. Gerd Manthei. And Uwe Hainbach, Chairman of the Board of the CCD added: "StudiumPlus is also an instrument of equal opportunities, because the students get their studies financed through their partner company."

In the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, more than 50 partner companies benefited from the opportunity to help qualify their junior staff and then employ them directly. This was also confirmed by Prof. Dr. Markus Pfuhl, board member of the CCD and general representative of Viessmann Werke GmbH & Co. KG. Since its foundation, the Frankenberg campus has already provided 268 graduates to the economy, the one in Bad Wildungen 129 graduates.

District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst assured StudiumPlus of his support in the further development of Frankenberg and brought the head of the school and education department, Claudia Knublauch, and the head of the building management department, Claudia Frede, with him on his inaugural visit. Together with StudiumPlus, they want to shape the further development of the location in a timely manner.