The objective of this program, which will benefit 20 professors from all over Spain. At Ginebra the teachers will attend classes and conferences and visit exhibitions

For the third consecutive year, Hidralia and its foundation, Fundación Aquae, promote the Teacher Training Program, thanks to which teachers of Science and Technology working in Andalusia in Secondary Education and Vocational Training can participate from June 23 to 28 in a course of high-level training taught at the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva (Switzerland). The deadline to register ends on April 22.

The objective of this program, which will benefit 20 professors from all over Spain, is twofold: on the one hand, to facilitate the updating of the theoretical and technical knowledge of the scholars; and, on the other, to offer them tools so that they can apply this knowledge in the classroom, thus encouraging scientific vocations among their students and, as a result, the choice of STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). "The objective of this program is to strengthen the knowledge of science in Secondary Education and Vocational Training, offering teachers a great opportunity to enrich their abilities", explains Mariola Urrea, president of the Strategy Council of Fundación Aquae.

During a week, participants of the 2019 Teacher Training Program will attend classes and conferences, visit exhibitions, and participate in workshops in which they will be presented with the latest developments and discoveries made at CERN, the world's largest particle accelerator, oriented to the investigation in the fundamental physics, the search of the origin and last constituents of the matter.

So far this century, the number of university enrollments in STEM disciplines has fallen by 25% in Europe and 40% in Spain and, however, the demand for professionals with this type of careers in the European Union will be around 14% in 2020, compared to 3% of the general demand for professionals, according to the European Center for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop).

Along with the classic STEM careers, such as Medicine, Computer Science or Mathematics, new degrees are emerging related to the treatment of data (Big Data), virtual reality and augmented reality, robotics, the Internet of Things or Bioinformatics, that increasingly demand more companies. This project is the result of the collaboration initiated in 2017 between the CERN & Society Foundation and Aquae Foundation, the first Spanish institution to join the CERN & Society Foundation since its creation in 2014.

Founded in 1954, CERN currently consists of 22 member states and has eight associated states, six observers and 57 collaborating countries. Spain joined this center in 1961, disengaging from it eight years later. In 1983 our country became a member state again. CERN research has greatly enriched human knowledge, with advances ranging from medical applications in cancer treatments or diagnostic imaging, to the development of the World Wide Web (www) or the finding of the Higgs Boson, a historic landmark for the Physics of Particles.

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