Mekonomen Group establishes its own secondary school programme for auto mechanics

17 February 2016 20:29

As part of its efforts to secure a future supply of auto mechanics for Mekonomen Group, the company is establishing its own secondary school programme together with the independent school operator Lärande i Sverige AB, which currently runs Realgymnasiet Secondary School in Sweden with a permit to offer automotive vocational training. The programme is expected to be launched in Stockholm and Lund in autumn 2017.

Vocational training for mechanics needs to be modernised in order to meet the competence requirements of today’s workshops. Accordingly, Mekonomen Group is developing an secondary school programme – known as the ProMeister Programme – under its ProMeister Academy, together with Realgymnasiet secondary School. The contents of the programme will be based on the results of requirement analyses conducted at numerous modern workshops. The aim of the programme is to better prepare students for a career as a mechanic based on their individual circumstances. The programme will involve extensive work experience education, with an opportunity to participate in upper-secondary apprenticeship training.

“Within a few years, we are going to see a major shortage of trained auto mechanics. Improving the quality of training for auto mechanics will benefit our workshops, which are currently investing major resources in training mechanics who do not have the necessary skills. This will also benefit the future mechanics themselves, since they’ll be able advance in their careers more quickly – not to mention car owners,” says Petra Bendelin, Managing Director of the Mekonomen Group company ProMeister Solutions, which is responsible for Mekonomen’s workshop offering.

Despite a growing need for mechanics in workshops, people’s interest in the profession has fallen and today’s secondary schools are turning out fewer qualified mechanics. In some cases, the mechanics graduating from upper-secondary schools have difficulties finding employment due a lack of skills. Over the next few years, Mekonomen Group expects that it will need some 500 mechanics and that the workshop industry as a whole will require 5,000 new employees.

“It’s great to be able to offer high-quality auto mechanic training in cooperation with Mekonomen Group. This will allow us to combine our knowledge of the automotive industry with our experience in secondary education, which will benefit both future students and Sweden’s workshops,” says Jan Vikström, Founder of Lärande i Sverige AB.

For further information, please contact:

Petra Bendelin, Managing Director of ProMeister Solutions
Tel: +46 70 424 99 19 E-mail: petra.bendelin@promeister.com

Jan Vikström, Founder of Lärande i Sverige AB
Tel: +46 70 826 42 50 E-mail: jan.vikstrom@larande.se