Last month, 14 forestry students, Schweighofer scholars from the Universities of Suceava, Brașov and Cluj-Napoca, put aside their books, course attendance and cramming for exams and took the scenic route to the forest.
Eduard Titi Andronache, a fourth year student at the Forestry Faculty at the Stefan cel Mare University in Suceava, is one of this year’s scholarship winners.
“My father works in the forestry sector, I was taken through the forest ever since I was a child, and this is where I want to be,” he said of the three-day learning trip. “During this experience we have gone through all stages of the course of transforming a piece of wood into a final product, and being part of the process changes one’s perspective. Such support motivates you and proves, once again, that if you want, you have the chance to find a job in the country and you can develop a career in the field you trained for.”
The scholarships programme, started back in 2014, is meant to support the development of future forestry and wood engineering specialists and is focused on practice trainings in the field, as well as on the job. It is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy of supporting education, research, development and innovation in the forestry and wood engineering fields through scholarship programmes, endowing laboratories and supporting projects and events.
“If during their university years the students are very well educated, mainly from a theoretical perspective, through the scholarship programme we bring a very consistent practical side to the educational process,” says Vasile Varvaroi, log purchasing manager at Holzindustrie Schweighofer and coordinator of the Schweighofer Scholarships Programme. “Thus, our scholars this year had the chance of interacting with the specialists of a forest management unit, who presented how a structure which manages the forestry fund is organised. They also had the chance to travel in person ‘the wood road’, from the seedling phase to the final product.”
The students witnessed the birth of a new forest area. They planted seedlings in the Dărmănești area, were instructed on best practices of selecting the trees that have potential of developing fully as well as those that have to be removed through thinning practices, they saw how modern, environmentally-friendly wood processing is done (cableway and forwarder), took part in loading a log truck and saw first-hand how the Timflow traceability system works.
“They also had the opportunity of witnessing in the field the building from scratch of a forestry road, according to the strictest rules,” added Vasile Varvaroi. “At the same time, they visited a logyard - where the logs are separated in order to be delivered to a sawmill and receive maximum added value - while, on the other hand, a special cutting line for firewood gave them a brand new understanding of the industry. At the end of the trip, they saw how all these efforts contribute to the society, how each piece of wood is used and transformed in our factory in Comănești into products we use in our everyday life – products which are used by designers, architects, eco-friendly builders, furniture makers and interior decorators – all those little things that offer us and our children the comfort of a beautiful, useful, practical and warm home.”
Alina Maria Truță, a professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, concluded: “In my opinion, this visit on the field was a positive experience, extremely nice and interesting. From my experience, I can say that students are more captivated by what is practical, and this outing was very encouraging for them.”
About the Schweighofer Scholarships
A European leader in wood processing, Holzindustrie Schweighofer believes that the passion for wood must be instilled in the minds of the younger generations, to develop the sector towards performance and sustainable management of the only renewable resource, the forest. The scholarship programmes answer this vision and offer formative experiences – academic ones and not only – to pupils and students who want to deepen their knowledge of a vital industry in the 21st century.
In the 2018-2019 university year, 20 scholarships of 800 lei per month each have been offered, equally split between students and Masters’ students in four prestigious faculties in the country:
The Faculty of Forestry, the Stefan cel Mare University in Suceava
The Faculty for Wood Engineering, the Transilvania University in Brașov
The Faculty of Forestry and Wood Harvesting, the Transilvania University in Brașov
The Faculty of Horticulture, the forestry department, the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca
