BTC Campus Ljubljana 2023 opened in BTC City Ljubljana for a new generation of job seekers. The intensive 6-week programme, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary and will finish on 22 November 2023, will once again welcome 35 participants, who will acquire or strengthen competences in the field of entrepreneurship and gain new employment opportunities. The programme is made possible by the BTC company in collaboration with the Employment Service of Slovenia and the Centre of Business Excellence of the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics.
The BTC Campus seeks to empower job seekers with different educational backgrounds by strengthening their entrepreneurial skills, making it easier for them to identify opportunities when looking for their first job or embarking on an independent journey by starting their own business. Participants are selected every year by the Employment Service of Slovenia based on interest shown in further education, networking and searching for employment opportunities, and the programme is carried out by lecturers from the Centre of Business Excellence of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Ljubljana: Rok Stritar, PhD, Blaž Zupan, PhD, and Marjan Kramar.
The chosen team of lecturers follows the Design Thinking method, developed at Stanford University and used in education to foster creativity and innovation. The BTC Campus participants apply the method to real business cases, which enables them to quickly transfer their knowledge into practice. The pivot point of this year’s programme will be a challenge related to the orientation and navigation of visitors in BTC City Ljubljana. To conclude the programme, the candidates will prepare their own solutions and projects, and present them at the closing event held at the ABC Hub in BTC City Ljubljana to an audience of professors, project partners and special invitees.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the BTC Campus, Damjan Kralj, M.Sc., CEO of the BTC company, said: “At the BTC company – for the tenth year in a row alongside our partners – we are proud to present a programme that empowers job seekers so they can take their next career steps with confidence and ambition. This long-standing project is a testament to the power of private companies, the public sector and academia working together for the common good. We are delighted that this year not only young jobseekers have shown interest in the programme, but also older ones, who already have a part of their career path behind them.”
The Centre of Business Excellence at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, is excited to be able to promote the cooperation between the Faculty and the business community through this long-standing partner project, and to support job seekers in navigating their careers. Monika Lapanja, M.Sc. Director of the Centre of Business Excellence at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, added: “Candidates have the unique opportunity to actively participate in a programme prepared according to the latest international quality guidelines, with topical and useful content. A select team of experienced lecturers ensure that participants additionally acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to work in any environment, especially in areas of project management, process efficiency, teamwork and communication. The results of the project work, useful innovative solutions that a company can implement in its operations, also represent added value.”
At the launch of the 10th BTC Campus, Greta Metka Barbo Škerbinc, Acting Director General of the Employment Service of Slovenia, emphasised: “The BTC Campus, in which the Employment Service has been involved as a partner for many years, is a very intensive programme that enables candidates to develop or strengthen their competences in the field of entrepreneurship, and for many of them new job opportunities do open up. Each year, at least thirty candidates are given the opportunity to take part, with about three hundred and eighty having been recruited so far. Despite the uncertain global situation and the impact of the floods that hit Slovenia in August, the labour market continues to register high employment and low unemployment rates. With low unemployment, structural disparities and fewer generations of young people entering the job market, many employers are facing a shortage of suitable staff. There is especially a growing demand for workers with competences, which will only intensify in the future on account of certain megatrends, such as population ageing, the digital and green transitions, and artificial intelligence. We will have to adapt quickly to these changes as a society and as individuals. That is why I wish all those starting the BTC Campus to make the most of the programme, the stimulating environment of BTC and the outstanding experience of their mentors, to discover their potential.”
A total of over 380 young people have taken part in the BTC Campus programme in the past nine years. In addition to the positive feedback of the participants, the success of the programme is also supported by numbers. The Employment Service of Slovenia has determined that within only a couple of months of taking part in the BTC Campus programme, from 60 to 75 percent of participants found a job or started their own business, while within one year this number jumps to more than 80 percent.
PHOTO: Studio Bomba
