The final conference on the project "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017"

At the ceremonial event held on May the 9th at the Hotel "Kragujevac" in Kragujevac, twenty participants of the "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017" received diplomas and certificates for attending vocational training in the field of JAVA and JavaScript programming languages. Students of the academy are the young, the unemployed from 18 to 30 years of age and among them are those who have been employed in companies where they had practical training. 

"The number of companies in the field of information and communication technologies in Kragujevac and its surroundings is growing, and therefore the need for personnel with certain skills and knowledge in this field. At the same time, although many people, especially young people, are unemployed, there is a lack of staff having the skills and knowledge needed by these companies on the market. Informal, but professional and practical trainings, such as the "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017", are necessary to bridge that gap. The young unemployed people thus get a chance to gain new, required competencies and get employed, and ICT companies get the kind of staff they need", said Tomislav Knezevic, representative of the German Organization for International Cooperation GIZ, which, within the German-Serbian Development Cooperation, in cooperation with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, supported the "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017".

The training at the "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017." involved 5 months of specialized ICT training for JavaScript and JAVA programming languages. After that, the 3 month practice followed in the ICT Cluster of Central Serbia member companies. The basic condition for applying for the academy was completed secondary vocational education, where the candidates of the technical profession with a certain level of knowledge of the English language had an advantage, while the knowledge in the ICT field was not necessary for JavaScript training.

"In cooperation with our members, companies in the ICT field, we analysed which staff profile they currently need most and therefore designed the "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017 " program. This system of adapting and organizing the training, based on a combination of theoretical and practical program, that is learning with elements of dual education that we normally apply now proved to be the best again. Of the fifteen trainees who have been offered the practice, three have started to work in the companies where they had practice before completing their practical training, and the possibility of employment is open to others whose practical part of the training is still on-going, which will depend on their personal efforts and engagement", explained Branimir Dzenopoljac, director of the business association "ICT Cluster of Central Serbia", which implemented the project "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac 2017".

GIZ and SDC will continue to support "ICT Cluster Academy Kragujevac". The new training cycle is under preparation, and all interested institutions and media, as well as the Directorate of the National Employment Service in Kragujevac, will be informed, as in the first cycle.