News

27/03/2015

A Double Bill of Experience

Studying at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) and working at Voith - a proven combination.

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Josephine van den Woldenberg and Madeline Möbius have completed a dual study course via Voith in Heidenheim. Now they both hold a Bachelor's degree: Madeline Möbius in Business Administration and Josephine van den Woldenberg in Mechanical Engineering. "You really have to get stuck in", says Josephine van den Woldenberg about the double bill of studies and practical work.

She pursued her studies for three years, usually in three-month intervals between university and company, and- alongside her Bachelor's title - also has her first job in the bag. "I still had to submit a standard application", she says, but compared to rival applicants from outside, young employees with a certain Voith "stable smell" have, of course, an advantage. She is now at Voith, working on the design and the development of innovative marine drives. Walking past the huge propellers in the production halls and seeing her own work coming into life never ceases to fascinate her about her job.

"If you know where you want to go, you can focus on developing into this direction", says the 22-year-old about the advantages of witnessing the practical realization of know-how in the company while still being at university. Madeline Möbius agrees and says: "Prior to each practical phase we coordinate with the company where we will be placed next. In this way you get to know a wide range of divisions." It was very important for her to find out what really suited her. Instead of moving towards "Marketing", as initially planned, she concentrated on "Purchasing" during her studies, and was given responsibility for certain product groups only a few weeks after starting a full-time job in this division. "I like the idea of being able to handle something myself", says the 22-year-old. "I had written my Bachelor thesis in this department, and starting a job there was like a homecoming."

Both are unanimous that they would choose this path again - even if it is quite challenging, because there are no long semester breaks. "But the advantages more than make up for this", says Madeline Möbius: expert knowledge from the university, a degree that is equal to any other university and a good network within the company, which opens up lots of opportunities.

A must for both: a stay abroad. And this can be easily put into practice at Voith. Josephine van den Woldenberg studied in Canada for a trimester and Madeline Möbius was in Wales and China. "It was absolutely fantastic", she raves about her experience.