Higher education according to industrial requirements — ECS as a successful example

Curricula of the Universities and especially of the Universities of Applied Sciences should be, in the best case, developed in such way, that graduates' knowledge should reflect contemporary requirements of the industry, without to losing the assertion of universality as the central perspective of the higher education. This awareness is often identified, but in the real case, the organization of the teaching contents at the university towards the industrial requirements, every so often does not functioning capably enough. Key reason for it is the dynamic and increasingly progression of the industrial and technological development, which can't be reached at the university side. This paper presents one solution for this problem. Presented is the collaboration between EPLAN Software and Services GmbH & Co.KG, as one of the worldwide key industrial company working in the domain of development of Electro-CAD software applications and the University of Applied Sciences from Cologne, Germany. Special insights are given to the development of the certification program called EPLAN Certified Student (ECS).