The first edition of EMPRENDER: Knowledge and Technology for Young People, a project carried out by Fundación Telefónica in which FIT professors from the UCU taught the courses, came to an end.
With the aim of contributing to the development of the society of the future through innovation, education and job skills, the course "Entrepreneurship: Knowledge and Technology for Young People" was held.
Organised by Fundación Telefónica, in alliance with the Catholic University of Uruguay, the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) through the National Youth Institute (INJU) and its programme Jóvenes en Red (JER), Talleres Don Bosco and the civil organisation El Abrojo, the course focused on telecommunications and employability for young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in situations of educational and social vulnerability.
Fundación Telefónica Movistar and the Catholic University of Uruguay offered their academic experience to carry out this educational process from June to December of this year. It consisted of more than 100 curricular hours, distributed in various theoretical-practical instances, to provide training in computer science, arduino programming, electronics, telecommunications and employability, in order to promote their future insertion in the labour market.
On 14 December in the Aula Magna of the UCU, the presentation of the projects and the awarding of certificates to the forty-five young people who completed their training took place. The projects presented solutions to improve circulation, rubbish and traffic in Montevideo. Along with authorities from the UCU and Fundación Telefónica, the event was attended by the Minister of Social Development, Marina Arismendi; the director of the National Youth Institute, Santiago Soto; and the head of the MIDES Youth in Network programme, Diego Olivera.
According to Mag. Matías Miguez, professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and the course "Entrepreneurship: Knowledge and Technology for Young People", the main challenge he faced was that "being kids who had dropped out of formal education made the course a unique option to 'hook' them, which forced us to look for new ways to interact with the students and identify what are the most important things for each one, in order to find a way to reach them". The experience forced Miguez to "find new analogies to explain concepts" while "getting to know other realities".
Source: Portal UCU
Photos: Camila Gabito
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