The Fieldbus Foundation held a press conference yesterday at the University of Miskolc, Hungary, to announce that the university has been successful in the rigorous certification process required to become a Foundation Certified Training Program (FCTP) training site. This program establishes uniform standards for fieldbus educational curriculum around the globe, and defines acceptable levels of learning for students of the technology.
The University of Miskolc is now the preferred site for certified FOUNDATION fieldbus training in the Central & Eastern Europe region. There are rigorous procedures that educational institutions must follow to gain certified training site status, and for certifying course instructors and curriculum. Certified training centers are required to maintain multiple hosts and devices onsite in order to demonstrate competence with FOUNDATION fieldbus technology. They are also audited to ensure their course material adheres to set instructional standards covering fieldbus segment limits; device replacements; commands, icons, menus and screen designs of different software packages; and communication, scheduling and function block assignments enabling configuration.
For many years, the University of Miskolc, Research Institute of Applied Earth Sciences - Department of Research Instrumentation and Informatics, has been actively involved with several research projects to use, develop, and teach industrial communication systems.
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| Fieldbus Training Laboratory at University of Miskolc |
Three instructors at the University of Miskolc have been certified to conduct FCTP courses. József Subert, Viktor Füvesi and Ildikó Bölkény are all members of the Research Institute of Applied Earth Sciences - Department of Research Instrumentation and Informatics and, in addition to their teaching and research roles, are key members of the program and organizing committees of the annual Distributed Control Systems (DCS) meeting, a key event in Hungary for control engineers. The press conference was given in conjunction with the DCS event this week.
The University of Miskolc will be offering the Foundation Certified Support Specialist course.
Dr. Károly Jónap, Head of Department of Research Instrumentation and Informatics, commented, “Certification is important for the University of Miskolc because we are formally recognized by the foundation as a high quality training center. This will give our customers a guarantee that the content of our courses, the course materials and the knowledge of our trainers are up to date.” He added “we are looking forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with the Fieldbus Foundation”.
Jürgen George, Chairman of the Fieldbus Foundation Central & Eastern Europe Marketing Committee (FFCEEMC), is delighted that the University of Miskolc has gained its accreditation. “One of the key objectives of the FFCEEMC is to provide technical training, support and information about FOUNDATION technology and its applications to users and potential users throughout the CEE region at a local venue and, where possible, in a local language”. He continued, “To have a certified training center here in Hungary that can support the CEE region’s technical training needs is a great achievement for all those involved.”
Around the world, institutions currently certified under the FCTP program include: Fieldbus Center at Lee College, United States; Trine University, United States; SAIT Polytechnic, Canada; STC Group - Brielle, The Netherlands, University of Miskolc, Hungary; Waseda University, Japan; and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Thailand. Other training centers participating in the program include: Sinopec Yanshan, China and LEAD in Brazil.
FCTP Program
Unversity of Miskolc Industrial Communication R&D and Training Laboratory
