Learning on the fly: FISITA’s student travel programme

Just over a year ago, Chris Mason took over as CEO of FISITA. Over the past 20 years FISITA has established a number of initiatives to engage with younger engineers that reach out either directly or via its international network of member societies. Chris soon realised that for the organisation to remain relevant, it needed to expand its interaction with engineering students, and attempt to help bridge the growing skills gap within the industry.

“For me coming in as chief executive a year ago, one of my priorities was to look at actually, in 2015, how do we engage with those young people,” he tells The Student Engineer. “Are we engaging with them in a modern way, and if not, what more could we do?”

One of the existing programmes in place was the FISITA Travel Bursary, which provides funding for students take advantage of work placements in automotive companies around the world. In place for almost a decade, Chris says the programme has handed out nearly €250,000 in that time, and students in over 35 countries have taken part.