Lessons are Measuring up Panevėžys: Challenge Series

The Panevėžys Development Agency and the Panevėžys Education Center have been changing the format of traditional lessons for the third year and moving them to places they might never have taken.

In order to encourage young people to choose studies and specialties relevant to the business of Panevėžys, or even discover their own career path, the initiative "Lessons are Measuring up Panevėžys" conducts non-traditional experiential learning in city institutions and companies, where students and their teachers have a unique opportunity not only to visit and get to know city companies but also to try to solve the challenges companies face themselves.

This is how education and business united for a common goal. In the first year of the project, teachers, in cooperation with companies, created experiential learning scenarios, so students visited city companies and learned based on the offered content.

In 2022, a new project format, "Lessons Measure Panevėžys: a Series of Challenges" was introduced. It's a continuation of an initiative where teams of students solve real challenges of companies that they competed for and purchased at an "auction." After visiting the company to gather the necessary information for the challenge, they present the proposed solutions during the final event.

The initiative has had an impact on students, their teachers, local industrial companies, and the broader city community. It not only creates conditions for young people to successfully enter the labor market and for businesses to carry out sustainable development but also seeks to attract future talent, encourage experiential learning, provide professional orientation in schools, help students boost their motivation to learn subjects, and introduce them to various companies, their challenges, innovations, and career opportunities.

This year, in 2023, seven companies from Panevėžys offered challenges to students: HARJU ELEKTER, UAB, which manufactures electrotechnical systems for ships and industry, art glass studio UAB "Glasremis", which creates glass products, UAB "Profibus", which installs industrial robots, UAB "Panevėžio regiono atliekų tvarkymo centras" which administers and develops the waste management system, UAB "Metalistas LT" performing metal processing activities, UAB "Specagra" specializing in the field of agricultural machinery and "Rozyno" bowling and billiards center providing bowling, billiards and other entertainment.

Challenges were purchased at the auction by seven teams of students from Panevėžys:

• The challenge of HARJU ELEKTER, UAB was bought by the students of Beržų pro-gymnasium,
• UAB "Glasremis" challenge - Panevėžys gymnasium 5 students,
• UAB "Panevėžio regiono atliekų tvarkymo centras" challenge - students of Raimundo Sargūno Sports Gymnasium,
• UAB "Profibus" challenge - team of students from the "RoboLabas" robotics center,
• UAB METALISTAS LT challenge – students of Juozas Miltinis gymnasium,
• UAB "Specagra" challenge - Primary school students,
• "Rozyno" bowling and billiards center challenge - students of "Vilties" pro-gymnasium.

The initiative "Lessons are Measuring up Panevėžys: Challenge Series" has already received several international awards, such as winning the national selection of the European Entreprise Promotion Awards in the category "Investing in Entrepreneurial Skills" and competing in the finals, as well as a nomination in the "Emerging Europe" awards.

Get to know the companies that participated in the initiative in 2022 and their challenges here.

Get to know the companies that participated in the initiative in 2023 and their challenges here.

Results of the initiative in two years can be found here.