Germany’s Minister of Labour Hubertus Heil expressed his desire on Tuesday for further collaboration with Humber after touring the Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation.
Heil met with students and toured the centre with Ontario Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton. They were joined by Humber President and CEO, Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan.
“The combination between theoretical and practical education, I think, is very important for the future of manufacturing,” Heil said.
“Humber College is a good example.”
Heil said he was amazed by the multicultural population of students at Humber.
“Germany needs skilled migration, that’s why Canada is a role model for us.”
Humber currently hosts over 9,000 international students from 120 different countries.
“The modern education, research and infrastructure are attributes which makes Humber attractive to students,” Heil said.
“The exchange of views and ideas between colleges and the collaboration between the business sector and the college is already tremendous,” he said.
Located on Humber’s North campus in Toronto’s northwest end, the Barrett Centre is home to more than 35 interactive labs, technology zones and maker spaces.
The building has been outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment such as Stratasys’ industrial 3D printers and Festo Didactic’s Cyber Physical Factory which provides in-depth knowledge of fully-automated digital production technologies.
“We’re situated in one of the best geographic centers of the GTA,” said Neal Mohammed, the director at Barrett, who also spoke of the college’s “friendly environment and also the multicultural nature. I think that really helps.”
“From the 3D printers, to the CPU factory, to laser cutting, to the autonomous vehicles that we have here, everything is exciting,” said Temu Moore, project manager at the centre.
When asked about next steps, Heil said that colleges can further evolve in the future by “exchanging experience and exchanging students sometimes.”
Mohammed said that “fifty per cent of the partners are German with whom we’ve been working with for more than 20 years.”
The German minister visited after a request from his country’s Consulate General’s Office. They wanted Heil to visit Humber because “they really liked the presence of the German companies in the building,” said Mohammed.