Innsbruck, 17th May 2017 – Over the past few years many underage young people have had to leave their homelands and flee to another country in order to escape war. In order to offer these young people some perspectives for the future we invited them to a ‘try-out day’ at ATP in cooperation with the initiative “ertebat”. Eight technically interested young refugees took up the invitation and made use of the opportunity in order to learn about design work in our Innsbruck office. We gave them a tour of the various areas of integrated design – from design & research and architecture via structural and building services engineering to tender documentation.
“We wanted to show the young refugees what career opportunities are open to them as well as to motivate them to pursue their goals,” explains Walter Scamoni, an engineer at ATP Innsbruck and also the foster father of a child refugee. “It is not easy for young people to think about careers outside their homeland, which is why we and the initiative “ertebat” arrived at the idea of organizing this ‘try-out-day’ at ATP.”
The young visitors came to Austria as unaccompanied, underage refugees. Some of them now have residency status and are attending technical high schools or grammar schools while others are busy learning German.
“Social engagement is strongly anchored in ATP’s corporate culture,” reports Gerald Hulka, an ATP partner in Innsbruck. “The ‘try-out day’ was not only an opportunity for the young refugees to gain some careers ideas – it also enabled us to get to know some exceptional young people. If there is some interest I could easily imagine taking one or more of them on as interns next year.”
The project “ertebat” from Plattform Rechtsberatung – FÜR MENSCHEN RECHTE campaigns on behalf of unaccompanied underage refugees aged between 14 and 18 (or, at the most, 21). The Initiative supports them in their search for a homeland and works to find them apprenticeships.