Informing about career opportunities

The paper sector is wide and full of diversified job opportunities. It is important to show parents and students the many career opportunities the sector offers

Updating education and training

Make sure education and training is always up-to-date on the latest technological developments required by the industry. This will also help education and training providers to better understand industry needs in terms of skills and competences and integrate new technologies in curricula

Dual system

To give students practical, updated and hands-on knowledge and experience, leverage on dual systems: these combine apprenticeships in companies with education at a vocational school

Social media

To spread the word and make the sector more appealing to the new generation, use and leverage on social media – such as Instagram, TikToka but also platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook

Sectoral image

To make the sector more attractive, it is essential to rework and restructure its image and identity with a view to young people

Open days

To make the sector known to students and their families, organize “open factory” days and invite students and families to see how the industry looks like from within

Communication Campaigns

To boost the attractiveness of the sector, focus on creating and launching communication campaigns that are specifically oriented to young people and speak “their language”

BELGIUM | Young workers day – a company visit with a preparatory class in school and a dialogue with company employees

In the frame of the EU project Turn The Page, Indufed in cooperation with two paper mills in Belgium and the communications agency Good Planet, has organized a project for school classes in the vicinity of 2 paper producers in which the classes/schools go through the following process:
1. They have a conversation with GoodPlanet about the course of the project (different stages and project planning) followed by a preparatory activity in the classroom based on the papier.be teaching sheets (exist in two languages – sheet for the teacher and online teaching module to be completed independently by the pupils)
2. A day trip to the factory where they have a company visit and they prepare and have a dialogue with company managers / HR / sustainability department – addressing their questions, expectations, what is stopping them for applying with a pulp and paper company, etc
3. Evaluation by teachers and pupils

Key stakeholders:
– Schools
– Pulp and paper companies
– potentialy also municipalities

Specific Benefits:
The young people do not only get to see a paper company but they also learn about the sector and prepare for a fruitful dialogue with employees in the company so that they can ask targeted questions. The pulp and paper mills do benefit as a personal contact with young people who are potential future employees is established and they also learn what matters to the students

Conditions for success:
– Companies involvement: to show their factories but also to offer further time for discussion with key employees (in HR, Management, sustainability depot,..)
– Schools /teachers to allow both the preparatory work and the time for the company visit
– investment in a third party (eg an agency) guiding and accompanying the process

ITALY | Lucca Paper Educational District – Master Degree “Technology and production of paper and cardboard”

Lucca paper district plays a strategic role in the Italian national industry, with more than 100 companies and a strong connection with the territory, and with a strong commitment to the educational world.
During the last decades, thanks to the dedication, engagement and cooperation between the industrial sector, university, high technical institutes and Confindustria Toscana Nord – the local branch of the National Industry Association – they have been able to build an extraordinary technical education system. The general purpose is to train young people transmitting them technical knowledge and to attract and retain skilled young workers in the pulp and paper industry.
By building a structed educational system, that is organized through different levels, they work with the aim of transferring and increasing the professional skills and expertise of the young people, in order to help them obtaining high level competences that are valuable for the paper industry. These educational initiatives are part of a complex system, starting from the guidance seminars organized in the middle school, to technical high school courses specifically designed on pulp and paper industry needs, to the higher level of university education.

Brief description of the best practice:
Pisa University and FLAFR (Lucca Foundation of higher education and research) are the first Institutions to start a Master Degree in Italy thanks to their experience with the successful seventeen previous editions of the Master “Paper and Cardboard”.
Master Degree in “Technology and production of paper and cardboard” is a two year University course and it is articulated in different managing and engineering classes, all taught in English for national and international students by academic professors and professional managers.
The course is characterized by its innovative didactic structure, where university professors and industrial managers’ skills complement each other with the aim to provide a rigorous academic preparation, which can be immediately spent in the business world. The course arises from the needs expressed by the representatives of the paper and corrugated cardboard sectors with the aim to attract young skilled people. It is also obvious how specialized training can only be performed with a strong synergy among University, business world and territory.
The participation to the Master Degree is also a tool to retain young workers, giving them the possibility to attend to an advanced University course that allows to increase their technical capabilities.

Key stakeholders:
– Pulp and paper companies as main actor in defining and establishing the technical knowledge essential to the sector
– Universities as primary player in the transmission of the knowledge to the young students

Specific Benefits:
Master degree in “Technology and production of paper and cardboard” arises from the important Paper and Cardboard Industry, which needs engineers well educated in its specific subjects. Graduates in “Technology and Production of Paper and Cardboard” will have the chance to continue their studies in higher education as well as to pursue careers in the paper and paperboard industry, public and private research institutions and other industrial enterprises where the knowledge of processes, materials and the enabling technologies for Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy are specifically relevant.

Conditions for success:
– Companies involvement in terms of technical human resources, essential for structuring a specialist training program, and availability for carrying out workshops, lectures, internships, tutoring
– Strong relationship between University and companies
– Continuous updating of teaching modules
– Strong promotional activities to sponsor the initiative