On Wednesday, September 21, BTC Campus Ljubljana 2022 opened in BTC City Ljubljana to welcome a new generation of young job seekers. The intensive 5-week programme will once again have 30 participants, who will acquire or strengthen business competencies and gain new employment opportunities. The programme is made possible by the BTC Company in collaboration with the Employment Service of Slovenia and the Center of Business Excellence of the Ljubljana Faculty of Economics.

The primary purpose of BTC Campus is to empower young 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 with 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. Lectures are held by lecturers from the Center 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 frequently used to foster creativity and innovativeness. BTC Campus participants apply the method to real-world business challenges, and the lecturers always make sure that the programme is relevant to current events and adapted to the group of participants – this year, the focus is mainly on generation Z.

At the opening event, Jože Mermal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BTC Company, noted: “At the BTC Company, we are well aware of the value of young people and their role in social and economic development, which is why we are an active partner in helping to promote their employment for the ninth year in a row already with the BTC Campus. We want to empower them and strengthen their self-confidence so that they can find their way either in having their own business or get employed in the organisation of their choice. This year’s programme focuses on generation Z, whose members are surrounded by digital technology having grown up with it, are active co-creators of the society of the future and, finally, are also consumers in BTC City, which is why we pay special attention to them with BTC Campus 2022.”

At the Center of Business Excellence of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Ljubljana, they believe that the BTC Campus programme allows them to directly realise their mission to transfer and exchange knowledge between the faculty and the corporate world. Monika Lapanja, MSc, Director of the Center of Business Excellence of the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana, added: “Since this project also clearly involves an aspect of increasing employment opportunities, it is all the more important to us. For the implementation of such programmes, it is crucial that both the content and the way it is presented are up-to-date and aligned with the latest international quality guidelines. In addition, participants acquire useful knowledge and skills related to project work, 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.”

Upon the opening of BTC Campus, Mitja Bobnar, Director General of the Employment Service of Slovenia, said: “In the past five years, youth unemployment rates have fallen significantly, to the point that we are currently seeing record low unemployment numbers. Above all, it is important that the share of young people being employed for an indefinite period of time has increased as well. Various measures and activities carried out by the Employment Service of Slovenia are certainly a contributing factor. A crucial activity of the Employment Service is to help young job seekers achieve a successful transition into the job market, so we are happy that we can participate in the BTC Campus project for the ninth year already. Experience shows that young job seekers with an entrepreneurial mindset and competencies are more successful when facing the challenges of a fast-changing job market, which is why the contribution of the BTC Company to the promotion of entrepreneurship and future economic development is incredibly important.”

A total of over 350 young people, about 230 in Ljubljana and 120 in Murska Sobota, have taken part in the BTC Campus programme in the past eight 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.

Additional information

Market Communications and Public Relations Sector

• P: +386 (0)1 585 13 00
• E: press.btc@btc.si