Skilled workforce

The chemical industry in the Rhineland has access to a large pool of highly skilled workers. Within Germany’s combined school and on-the-job apprenticeship system, local businesses train young people in all areas relevant to the sector, such as the sciences, (electrical) engineering, production, metalworking, business management, IT and hospitality – more than 50 different qualifications (including bachelor degrees) in total.

In the chemical industry, it’s particularly important that graduates from apprenticeship or higher education programmes continue their professional development on the job. So businesses make sure their workers’ expertise is constantly aligned with the latest challenges facing the industry, ensuring a highly skilled workforce. Local CPD centres, such as Rhein-Erft-Akademie and TÜV Rheinland Akademie, and the CPD programmes run by Currenta provide additional training opportunities for companies in the region.  

The region also has plenty of higher education institutions, which offer over 40 different programmes of relevance to the chemical industry. In addition to science subjects, they deliver engineering, economics and IT programmes leading to bachelor and master degrees or the opportunity to do a doctorate.