Last term a group of BTEC Applied Science students from Salford City College’s Pendleton Sixth Form Centre went on a trip to Germany as part of an international exchange project on nutrition. The two-year project, funded by Erasmus+, looks at the health implications of convenience food, and requires the Salford students to work in collaboration with a partner school in Germany, called Johanna-Wittum-Schule.
The exchange project came about through an identified skills gap in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) industries in both the UK and Germany. The learning outcomes of the project will support the students’ transition from study into employment by giving them essential technical and professional skills required to enter the STEM labour market.
Whilst on the trip to Pforzheim in South West Germany, the students spent three days working in Johanna-Wittum-Schule’s labs, carrying out various experiments. For one of the experiments, a medical doctor was present to take the students’ blood after they ate certain foods, so that they could see the effect different foods have on their blood sugar levels.
The students also went on a day trip to the city of Heidelberg, which is famous for its distinguished 14th-century university. Whilst there, they visited the German Cancer Research Centre, where they got to see how different imaging techniques are used to diagnose cancer.
Chongwei Chua, Curriculum Manager for Vocational Science, said: “The students got a lot out of their trip to Germany. It was a good growing-up experience as they had to learn to look after each other in a new country. The trip to Heidelberg also inspired some of the students to look into doing a degree in Europe.”
When they weren’t working on the project, the students got the chance to visit a German brewery, where they learnt how beer is made, and went on a shopping and sight-seeing trip to Stuttgart. They were also shown how to make traditional pretzels in the school kitchen at Johanna-Wittum-Schule.
Applied Science student Aziza Bikzadeh-Oskoei, 19, said: “I had the best time of my life on the trip. I got to visit a beautiful country, make new friends from Germany and gain plenty of scientific knowledge. I have gained a lot of confidence from working on this Erasmus project, and I would definitely not hesitate if I had the chance to study or work overseas in the future.”
When they got back from the trip, the students were asked to put together a presentation on their findings, and this term they are required to teach what they have learnt from the project to pupils from local schools
