OSU-Okmulgee, Swiss watch industry renew pact
The Watchmaking and Microtechnology program at OSU-Okmulgee will benefit from a $1.1 million agreement signed with Audemars Piguet, Breitlin, The Richemont Group, The Swatch Group and the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program (WOSTEP). The five-year commitment provides additional funding to the watchmaking program to expand instructional and technological capabilities as well as increase student enrollment.
The grant will specifically fund new faculty and staff resources, continuing professional development, scholarships, equipment, supplies, marketing and industry image enhancement. The sponsorships follow a $650,000 investment in the program made by the Swiss watch industry in 2002.
“The watchmaking program at our Okmulgee campus is truly one of the jewels of the OSU System,” said OSU System CEO and President David Schmidly. “We appreciate the Swiss watch industry’s continued support and confidence in our program, and I congratulate President Klabenes and his team on this milestone.”
OSU-Okmulgee President Bob Klabenes said, “This renewed sponsorship positions OSU-Okmulgee to build on the success we’ve shown.”
“Our graduates go to work for some of the most prestigious watch companies and service centers in the world,” Klabenes said. “These are lucrative careers and our Swiss watch partners need more technological professionals of the quality we are producing.”
OSU-Okmulgee has a 60-year heritage of watchmaking education that dates to the school’s beginning in 1946, when watchmaking was one of the original programs designed for World War II veterans needing to re-enter the workforce.
The program now focuses on sophisticated luxury watches and offers an associate in applied science degree in addition to certification through the WOSTEP 3,000-hour program. WOSTEP is an independent institution recognized for exemplary training in the field of watchmaking, and its 3,000-hour program is supported by 80 different brands of the Swiss watch industry.
OSU-Okmulgee is one of 14 WOSTEP partnership watchmaking schools in the world and just five in the United States. Visit http://www.osu-okmulgee.edu/academics/watchmaking/ for more information.
Top of page ^
|
