The interaction of ideas, solutions and people is one of the pillars for ACTE. To meet and collaborate is at the very the core of what our organisation does. For example, when the member Nordiska Textilakademin from Sweden recently brought their graduating students to Santo Tirso, Portugal on an inspiring field trip.

This year’s production trip for the graduating students at the Nordic Textile Academy (NTA – Nordiska Textilakademin) went to Portugal in the end of May. The trip was for three days, concluded with a big graduation party at Cálem, one of the city’s well-known port wine houses. The study visit is part of ACTE’s the PIN project.

… both very rewarding and full of learning

Several educational visits
The students went to several textile facilities around the Porto region. Visits to enhance the knowledge of textile production processes. The trip to Portugal is part of the examination course, made possible thanks to the student budget assigned each student. These funds are intended to support the student skills into a future professional role.

— We are very satisfied with these trips. They are both very rewarding and full of learning, Kerstin Syrén says, as Head of Education at the Nordic Textile Academy. She thinks that Portugal is a fantastic country to visit when learning more about textiles.

— Some companies are really at the forefront of what can be done with textiles, and they are so professional in everything they do. I was also impressed by the circular thinking. At two of the companies we visited, they have their own gardens, used when providing lunch for the staff.

Santo Thyrso Factory
The Nordic Textile Academy extends a big thanks to the host textile cluster Fábrica de Santo Thyrso, which also helped with the company visits.
The school also thanks ACTE, which co-financed parts of our trip, and the organisation TEKO and its scholarship fund. And finally, NTA wants to thank all the companies that accommodated with such engagement and great professionalism.

Companies visited by the NTA students

• MACOSMI – Fábrica de Calçado lda, São Martinho do Campo, Santo Tirso
• Vilave Têxteis, Unipessoal Lda, Aves, Santo Tirso
• Lantal Textiles SA. Company, Água Longa, Santo Tirso
• A. Sampaio & Filhos Texteis S.A, Santo Tirso
• PETRATEX, Carvalhosa, Paços de Ferreira
• Calvelex, Lustosa, Lousada
• Lavandaria Pizarro, Brito, Guimarães
• C.R.G. Confeções, Lda. Reguentex, Confeções Têxteis

Links/sources
More about Fábrica de Santo Thyrso
More about Nordiska textilakademin/Nordic Textil Academy

(Photos by Henrik Grönberg)