A large, clean room with silver pipes and strict rules. A cleanroom was officially opened at the ter AA secondary vocational school in Helmond on Wednesday afternoon. It is the very first secondary vocational school to have one. The space has been specially developed to train students in the Brainport region for the future in the high-tech and microchip sector.
The cleanroom is intended to give students and professionals in training realistic practical experience, for example if they start working at a company such as ASML. They learn to work according to the strict procedures, safety requirements and material regulations that also apply in the real high-tech world. The opening was performed by Roxana Mînzatu, European Commissioner and Vice-President for Social Rights, Skills and Quality Jobs.
“We are extremely proud that we – together with our partners in the field – have achieved this cleanroom have been able to build,” says Ingeborg Janssen-Reinen, chairman of the school. “Gaining experience with the real work is crucial for the development of our students’ skills.”
Important step
Companies will also use the space to train their staff. This closes the cleanroom to the regional labor market program ‘Beethoven’, which focuses on the future of the Brainport region. The cleanroom is accessible to students at all school levels, from practical education to university. There is also room for practical research and innovative experiments.
According to training manager Tom Westerveld, the cleanroom an important step in retaining talent for the region. “It is the new development,” he says in a report by Radio 1. “We must keep them all within the Brainport region and ensure that more people work in the semiconductor sector.”
Enthusiastic
In the cleanroom machines will soon be built that can make chips. A dust-free environment is essential for this. “This means you have to be able to work very cleanly and that is what the cleanroom is for,” Westerveld explains.
Students are enthusiastic about the new space. Rick explains how the technology works: “The air pressure in the cleanroom must be higher than outside,” he says. “For example, if there is a leak, it will blow instead of suck. When it sucks, dust gets into the cleanroomand of course you don’t want that.”
‘Nice start’
Student Tim sees it as a valuable addition to his education. “It’s a great start,” he says. “We are already looking ahead to the future. This way we learn more quickly how to do things in practice and we don’t have to just sit on the books.”
The construction of the cleanroom cost 1.5 million euros and was partly made possible by the National Microchip Talent Strengthening Plan. This program was created to strengthen knowledge and training opportunities surrounding microchips and semiconductors in the Netherlands.
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