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68 university students join EDP to complete their training

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Education and Research

11.11.2021

68 university students, 58 of them from the University of Oviedo, begin their training with energy company EDP today. Twenty-five years ago Pablo Argüelles Tuñón, Head of Generation at EDP, was starting his internship in what used to be Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico, at the Aboño thermal power plant. Today he heads up a business area, he is a member of the EDP Administration Committee, and shared his experience and what has acted as his guidance throughout his career in a digital training session as the kick-off to the new Martín González del Valle grants 2021-2022.


In the image: Ramón Barrio and Cayetana Bobes at the EDP facilities in La Gesta square are two of the students participating in this year's EDP Foundation Scholarships. Photo: Daniel Mora.

The EDP Foundation is organising an event to welcome the interns who will be working at various EDP Spain offices and departments. The ceremony, a 100% digital event on the Microsoft Teams platform, featured contributions by Vanda Martins, the EDP Foundation's Executive Director, and Alfonso López Muñiz, the University of Oviedo's Student Vice-Chancellor.

It also featured a training session by the students' future colleagues in connection with sustainability, communication, staffing administration and data processing, among other areas. Students in any of the departments discovered some major aspects of the activity of the EDP Group, facilitating their learning curve and integration in the company. They were also given an informative talk on the EDP Volunteer Programme.

Although the interns are joining the company today, in the weeks ahead they will be teaming up with new colleagues, and they can call on assistance at any time from a tutor, who will train them, help them out, and supervise their work. The course will give them academic training in the various work areas and centres in a hybrid model, alternating teleworking with in situ tasks, just like their EDP Group co-workers. To this end, the EDP systems department has provided portable computers for all interns.

To quote EDP Foundation Executive Director Vanda Martins, “you have spent many years preparing yourselves for this task, and the scholarships are part of your reward, because you have earned them through your hard work, carrying out a task for which you have had to adapt, and have undertaken challenges which no one could have previously imagined”. “In the modern age there can be no understanding of university education without practical training in the world of employment. Hence, therefore, the importance and necessity of this interaction between EDP and our University, which entails a splendid opportunity for students and a debt of gratitude to EDP”, said Alfonso López Muñiz, the University of Oviedo's Student Vice-Chancellor, addressing the students via Microsoft Teams from the University of Oviedo's historic building.

Pablo Argüelles, Head of Generation at EDP Spain and a former intern at what used to be Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico at the Aboño thermal power plant, also wanted to say a few words to the students, and laid the emphasis on empathy. “The best results are obtained by collaboration and team work, and so it is essential to be able to understand the motivations, the fears and the convictions of others”.

The 38th Martín González del Valle Programme is the University of Oviedo's leading grants scheme, with almost 800,000 euros in funds. In what will be the very first experience of employment for some of them, and a vital test for their introduction to the world of business, students will complete up to 800 hours of paid training at EDP. The EDP Foundation carries out a number of educational, cultural, social and environmental initiatives. The university grants are one of its major initiatives, and most especially this programme, named after Martín González del Valle, who was chairman of the energy company from 1987 to 1999. Since its launch in 1983, more than 100 people who took part in the programme have joined the EDP Group workforce in Spain.

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