The spirit of international motor trade cooperation was high on the agenda during October as Ireland played host to eight final year automotive students on an Erasmus+ work experience programme from Henri Fertet High School of Automotive Trades located in Gray, France. The students each did a four week placement with a Dublin based workshops with 2 placed with M.S.L, Park Motors, Mercedes, 2 at Joe Duffy, Charlestown, BMW / Finglas North Rd ,Mazda & Volkswagen and 4 at Harley-Davidson in Ballymount.

The visit came about following a meeting between representatives of the French college and Carol Hanney , the CDTB Chief Executive and John Hogan of CDETB in Paris. They facilitated a visit to Plunket College in Dublin where Principal Adrian Delaney, Vice-Principal Principal, Elaine O'Sullivan and automotive lecturer Robert Ledwith were able to help them set-up the programme.

The hard work and organisation from both teams culminated in the students enjoying an enlightening and culturally enriching four weeks in Ireland, where they learned new skills and technical abilities, developed their English language abilities and made many new friends.   

Both the French students and the Irish host companies said it had been a very rewarding experience and the organisers hope to be able to make more placements next year.