Best certificate for Birthe Stegemann
Former trainee of the Max Planck Institute in Münster presented with an award by the North Westphalian Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Münster’s merchants’ association
148 trainees in Münster passed their final examination at the North Westphalian Chamber of Industry and Commerce with the top grade “very good”. They include Birthe Stegemann, who from August 2015 to June 2018 completed her training as an office manager at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Molecular Biomedicine. Her achievement, and that of the other young professionals, was celebrated on 15 November 2018 with around 400 guests in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce training centre.
If it were up to Martin Becker, head of Administration-Technics-IT at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Birthe Stegemann would still be working in this research facility. However, although Birthe Stegemann really enjoyed working at the MPI for Molecular Biomedicine, this outstanding former trainee decided to pursue her dream of studying business administration.
“Working in administration was such great fun that I want to continue my studies in the field of management,” Birthe Stegemann (22) explains. With her “very good” top marks, she would have had a good chance of receiving a further training stipend from the German federal government’s funding programme for talented young people, although the further training would have been part-time. “I decided to go for full-time studies in Siegen,” Birthe Stegemann says – and she doesn't regret her decision.
Birthe Stegemann joined the Max Planck Institute in Münster as part of a commercial internship as a school pupil. As a result of her experience there, she realised that she wanted to train in the field of commercial management. Since she took biology as one of the main subjects for her school-leaving certificate, it was clear to her when she read the advertisement for the job at the MPI in Münster that she wanted to apply. “I was also attracted by the international orientation at the Institute,” she says.
Her enthusiasm for an international outlook is reflected in her additional qualifications. During her training, Birthe Stegemann obtained the KMK foreign language certificate (business and administrative English) and passed the “Further qualification as Europe assistant (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)”, for which she completed a four-week internship at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History. “The idea of obtaining a further qualification came from my trainer Yvonne Vockamm. I’m very grateful to her for everything that she’s done for me,” says Birthe Stegemann.
Since 2013, the 1835 merchants’ association in Münster and the North Westphalia Chamber of Industry and Commerce have jointly presented an award to the best trainees in Münster-based trading, industrial and service companies. Overall, during the winter of 2017/2018 and in the summer of 2018, precisely 1,662 trainees took the Chamber of Industry and Commerce exam. 1,550 passed, of which 148 obtained at least 92 of 100 potential points, earning themselves the “very good” grade. Proportionately, 8.9 percent were best-of-year.