Between March and May, participants in the BTC Campus
programme, organised by the BTC Company in cooperation with the Centre
of Business Excellence of the Faculty of Economics at the University of
Ljubljana and the Employment Service of Slovenia, attended 12 module
lectures in the Logistics centre of BTC City Ljubljana. This training
allowed them to upgrade the knowledge acquired during their student
years with basic entrepreneurial skills and consequently improve their
chances for a successful career.

The BTC Campus programme was attended by 30 young people, who were
selected with the help of the Employment Service of Slovenia, and who,
after a successful conclusion of their tertiary studies, often need to
deal with the hardships of seeking first employment or are thinking of
implementing their own entrepreneurial ideas. On their path into the
business world, they improved on their professional knowledge in
different topical fields, such as communications, accounting, planning,
and marketing, by attending 3-hour weekly lectures and workshops
conducted by lecturers from the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana. As
part of the innovative environment of BTC City Ljubljana they expanded
their network of acquaintances and familiarised themselves with the
activities of different institutions.

Jože Mermal, president of the BTC Management board, emphasised that
the 3rd BTC Campus achieved its aim: “With the BTC Campus programme we
wish to help young people in this time of unfavourable economic
conditions. I am certain that the BTC Campus participants acquired the
basic business knowledge and managed to build connections that will help
them in the future when embarking on their respective career paths. I
especially hope that they have managed to increase their self-esteem as
competent young entrepreneurs. The programme gives them the opportunity
to prove themselves. We are happy to report that each generation of BTC
Campus participants took full advantage of the given opportunities. We
are proud to be the first to make such cooperation between the academic
sphere and the economy possible and contribute to reducing the gap
between the completion of tertiary studies and first employment. The
data of the last two years testifies to our success story: with the new
knowledge, skills, and acquaintances acquired during the BTC Campus
programmes, we have managed to help more than half of all the
participants to their first employment or self-employment.”
“As a
representative of a faculty, where knowledge plays the most important
role, I am proud to say that knowledge here is applied in practice,
which is also a goal of the Centre of Business Excellence of the Faculty
of Economics – to encourage progress in the Slovenian economic sphere
by connecting and intertwining knowledge. With the BTC Campus programme
we have successfully created an encouraging environment, where graduates
are able to remain in contact with the current activities in Slovenian
economy while seeking first employment. They are able to improve on
their competences, upgrade their knowledge, skills, and apply the
acquired knowledge after concluding their studies. Encouraging
entrepreneurial innovativeness and creativity is a good start,
regardless of the expert field or type of work the participants of the
BTC Campus programme will be a part of in their new employment”,
explained prof. Metka Tekavčič, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Economics at
the University of Ljubljana.

“The data on the unemployment of young people under the age of 30 in
Slovenia shows that around 30,000 young people are currently unemployed.
This means that thousands of enthusiastic young and creative
individuals, who have finished their tertiary studies and are eager to
work and create, are currently unemployed. They represent the potential
for future development of the society, and thus need to be encouraged
and enabled to become active participants in the labour market after
finishing their studies. The BTC Campus programme creates opportunities
of getting to know potential employers, gives some insight into the
business environment, enables a transfer of knowledge and acquisition of
skills, and encourages all the participants to start thinking about
embarking on an independent entrepreneurial path. The BTC Company as an
enterprise, the Centre of Business Excellence of the Faculty of
Economics as an educational institution, and the Employment Service of
Slovenia as one of the key institutions in the labour market have all,
with their joint effort of creating new employment opportunities, set an
example of what a fruitful cooperation among important factors in the
field of employment in Slovenia should look like”, said Mavricija Batič,
Director General of the Employment Service of Slovenia.

The educational programme BTC Campus has been organised by the BTC
Company in co-operation with its partners as part of its socially
responsible efforts within the scope of the Mission: Green project, one
of the company’s business pillars. Over the past three years, the
programme has provided 90 young graduates with the opportunity of
acquiring additional business education, which either eased their way
into finding first employment or offered them support in developing
their own business idea. As an accelerator of ambitious individuals, BTC
Campus represents an effective platform for investing in the
development of young experts, who can become an important part in
developing Slovenian economy.

Additional Information:

Maja Oven, Director of the Market Communication and Public Relations Sector

• T: +386 (0)1 585 13 15
• E: maja.oven@btc.si