On 21, 22 and 23 April, Giorgio Righetti, President of the Benigno Zaccagnini Institute (IBZ), and Lucrezia Gilardoni, Director of the Milan Campus, joined the Italian and German partners of the Optical Network promoted by the ConnActions project on a study tour in Germany, organised between Karlsruhe and Munich. The initiative focused on strengthening collaboration, exploring future partnership opportunities and visiting leading educational and vocational training centres in Optics and Optometry.
Participation in the ConnActions Optical Network further reinforces IBZ’s international vocation and complements the Institute’s long-standing collaborations with Aston University in the United Kingdom and the School of Biomedical Sciences of Athens (SBIE) in Greece.
On 22 April, the Optical Network visited the Aus- und Weiterbildungszentrum der Augenoptik Karlsruhe, Germany’s largest and most advanced training and continuing education centre for Optics. The centre welcomes approximately 1,500 apprentices each year from Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse.
Faculty members presented their educational programmes, students shared their experiences, and network partners had the opportunity to participate in classroom activities. The visit provided valuable insight into the similarities and differences between the Italian and German educational systems, highlighting the importance of integrating theoretical learning with practical training.
Representing IBZ, we presented our Two-Year Dual Training Programme qualifying students for the profession of Optician, currently the only programme of its kind in Italy. This provided an opportunity to compare the Italian and German vocational training models and identify common challenges and opportunities.
The study visit continued on 23 April in Munich with a visit to the Bildungszentrum für Augenoptik und Optometrie, a training centre for Optics and Optometry that serves approximately 1,000 students and employs around 60 faculty members.
During the visit, network partners attended lessons and practical demonstrations, including ophthalmic optics activities carried out by students. The day concluded with a workshop dedicated to reviewing the current status of the collaboration, discussing future partnership opportunities and planning the final ConnActions event, scheduled to take place in Naples in July.
A strong commitment emerged among all participants to continue the work already initiated by the network while simultaneously exploring new areas of cooperation, further strengthening dialogue between Italian and German educational institutions.
Throughout the programme, Italian and German professionals recognised the value of the progress achieved together and the importance of maintaining a bilateral network capable of contributing concretely to the development of professional education and training in Optics and Optometry in both countries.
The Italian delegation also included Anto Rossetti, representing SOPTI (Italian Optometric Society), and Monica Tabacchi from I.I.S. E. Fermi of Pieve di Cadore.
ConnActions: Sharing and Cooperating to Grow Together
ConnActions is a four-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and coordinated by the Italian-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK Italien). The project operates within the framework of bilateral Italian-German cooperation in the field of dual vocational education and training.
ConnActions promotes the development of bilateral Italian-German networks focused on different thematic areas, encouraging the testing of successful cooperation models through shared work programmes and joint action plans addressing the main challenges of dual vocational education in both countries.
Each network brings together Italian and German stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, creating opportunities for dialogue, innovation and long-term collaboration.
Members of the ConnActions Optical Network
