The Motion Control Academy is a fine example of a public-private partnership. Since 2019, the Fribourg School of Engineering and Architecture (HEIA-FR), together with local companies Boschung, Contrinex, CPAutomation and Polytype, have run an extracurricular training program which gives students in mechanical (see photo), electrical and computer engineering the opportunity to acquire valuable interdisciplinary skills.

“It is divided into three parts: a five-week Summer School, during which students receive an allowance, followed by two semester projects and finally the undergraduate thesis. All are interdisciplinary and benefit from the active support of our industry partners,” explains Jean-Nicolas Aebischer, director of HEIA-FR, who is fully convinced of the advantages this approach offers. “In the modern industrial world, the acquisition of a shared foundation, a global vision, or simply an openness to others constitutes real added value and reflects the future work of engineers, whether they are computer scientists, mechanical engineers or electrical engineers. As for the companies, they benefit from spotting potential future employees and the launch of interdisciplinary applied research projects. They also have the added bonus of being able to sign up their existing staff to the Summer School.