Mr. Spoljaric, why is the Messer Group a long-standing sponsor of the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship?
Spoljaric: The Messer Group has long been associated with the Krefeld site - the company's headquarters used to be located here as Messer Griesheim GmbH. Last year, we celebrated 120 years since the company was founded. And that is why we have also had close contact with the Hochschule Niederrhein for a long time. We manufacture industrial gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, mixtures or medical gases, we are the world's largest family-run industrial gas specialist and we need appropriate young talent, such as process engineers, chemists and mechanical engineers, like those trained at the Hochschule Niederrhein for our company think tank. When the NRW scholarship first started in 2010, our Messer Group GmbH site in Krefeld was not yet very big, but we knew that we would continue to grow and would need personnel. So it was a question of supporting the university and raising our profile as a traditional company that has been active in Krefeld for many years under a new surname.
How does the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship help in the search for personnel?
Spoljaric: In the best case scenario, the scholarship students get to know the company better through an internship, and then perhaps also write their bachelor's or master's thesis with us. We try to give our scholarship students a good insight into the company - at the Krefeld site, this is best done through our new competence centre. There, students can get to know our technologies and accompany practical trials at test facilities. The job market is competitive, you have to have contact with universities to be perceived as a company - and especially if you are competing with big players like Bayer or BASF, like we are, it's hard to attract young people. We have to get them excited about us.
How well does the matching work, i.e. how well do the scholarship students from the university fit in with the Messer Group?
Spoljaric: The scholarship students are proposed to us by the university according to our specifications and needs. Furthermore, the social component is very important to us, a parameter that we emphasize in our family-run company philosophy. In most cases, the proposals are in line with our expectations, and that is why we also hope to contribute to the development of young academics in the future, together with the university, by means of the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship.
Have you already recruited scholarship students?
Spoljaric: Indeed. In the past five years alone, we have hired three former scholarship students. People who showed interest, did internships or wrote papers.
What else would you like to see from the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship?
Spoljaric: It would be nice to have continuous reflection on the part of the students so that we also know how we can improve the design of the scholarship. So: Has the scholarship done anything for you - regardless of the financial support? What expectations do they have of the scholarship provider, the industry? Our young and experienced employees, as well as I, are available to mentor the scholarship students. After all, we are a very small part of these young people's résumés if they don't become employed by us, and we also want to give them something to take with them for their future in the working world.
