In conversation with Mr. Hans-Dieter Sauer, President F+U Education Group

‘Hoping to have Pakistani youth in Germany’

Blurb: In Germany, we don’t have young talented professionals and in Pakistan you have a lot of young talented professionals. If we put them together, it can be a very fruitful cooperation.

Shoulder: Pakistan is a wonderful country. People here are very hospitable and really beautiful at heart. Every student who goes to Germany from Pakistan to study is an ambassador of Pakistan.

Tell us something about your organisation.

This is F+U Education Group from Heidelberg. I am the founder and president of the group. The group has been working for last 40 years now and owns 36 companies in the educational field. In this delegation, we represent two main parts of the F+U Education Group; one is the language school that is one of the biggest language schools in Heidelberg with around 10,000 students a year. Mr. Ribes represents another branch of F+U Education Group; this is iba University of Cooperative Education. We are the biggest private university in Germany with this concept. It’s a very special education model that holds the concept of cooperative education. According to this concept, the students attend the university for two days and three days a week working in some company with an employment contract. In this way, they utilise the knowledge they get from the university and complete their degree after three years. Their entire fee is paid by the companies they work in. We offer degrees in 13 management disciplines and in all the disciplines we follow the same cooperative rule. In 85% cases, the students after working and studying for three years are directly employed at good positions in different companies. We have 2000 plus companies on our panel where our students work along with their studies. After three-year BS programme, we offer Master’s programme as well. In addition to this, we also offer BS in Engineering and Information Technology. So, we have a broad range of academic programmes.

What are your plans here in Pakistan?

First of all, I met with Mr. Waseem Butt, Member of the City Parliament Heidelberg and then we started thinking about how we can establish a link with Pakistani educational institutions. Our first step is to co-work with the College of Tourism and Hotel Management (COTHM) because we see a big chance in this cooperation. Pakistan and Germany have seen big demographic changes. In Germany, we don’t have young talented professionals and in Pakistan you have a lot of young talented professionals. If we put them together, it can be a very fruitful cooperation. We are also in contact with some other educational institutes in Pakistan like the University of Punjab and the University of Lahore. We are also in contact with TEVTA for our Engineering programme because engineering is quite successful in Germany.

How are you going to work with COTHM?

We are very serious about working with COTHM because there is a severe shortage of young hospitality and tourism professionals in Germany. We have hundreds of places for students in companies like hotels throughout Germany and we don’t find enough students to get them placed there. We are quite hopeful to sign an MoU with COTHM through which we can invite Pakistani students there in Germany and let them avail various opportunities in the fields of hospitality and tourism. This is in the interest of both the countries as well.

How can Pakistani students benefit from your institutions?

This is our first visit and we are in the process of developing some roadmap for the Pakistani students. Definitely, we shall be like a bridge for them. They would be able to access German institutions and workplaces in a quick and easy way. We shall also offer German language courses to the Pakistani students before having them enrolled in their desired programmes. As it is a dual programme, the students would be at work from the day one and there are more than 85% chances that they will be employed soon after getting their degrees. So, this is going to be a wonderful progamme for the Pakistani students by all means.

How does F+U Education Group relate with hospitality and tourism?

One of our main products is Bachelor in Economics with specialisation in Hotel, Tourism and Events. We have a lot of study programmes but for so many years now the programme of hospitality and tourism is one of our main pillars. We have a big network of renowned hotels from five star hotels to small properties in rural areas throughout Germany and they are searching for young talented professionals. You can say that we are experts in the education of hotel management and tourism.

Are there opportunities for experienced people in your group?

Of course, we are thinking about different models but our main focus is that young students study with us and we make them enter the German workforce.

Any message for our readers?

Pakistan is a wonderful country. People here are very hospitable and really beautiful at heart. Every student who goes to Germany from Pakistan to study is an ambassador of Pakistan. I must add that if you are ready to work hard in Germany, a wonderful career is waiting for you.

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