Cooperation with Corporate Partners at VŠE
The University of Economics, Prague (VŠE) has various forms of cooperation with its corporate partners; these include, for example, the “Šance” (Chance) job fair, lectures and workshops by firms, provision of job offers, the presentation of firms at the university and the organization of practically oriented competitions for students. Firms also support the R&D and international activities of VŠE.
At the faculty level, cooperation with partners is organized by individual faculties or departments while at the university level it is conducted by the Development and Counseling Centre (RPC). The RPC annually cooperates with approximately two hundred firms. With the firms that are partners of VŠE, cooperation is broad and includes dozens of common activities, while with other firms cooperation occurs on a more occasional basis.
The first key activity is the “Šance” (Chance) job fair, which is prepared by the RPC directly on VŠE’s premises twice a year, always in March and November. The next fair is scheduled for 9-10 November 2010. The fair takes two days, and some fifty firms participate. The possibility to speak to students is most often used by representatives of audit and advisory firms, banks, insurance companies, HR agencies, IT firms, retail businesses and FMCG firms but also by some public administration organizations. For the autumn fair, we are preparing several novelties, e.g. panel discussions devoted to particular branches or HR lectures by firms.
Another activity area is organization of lectures by firms on VŠE‘s premises. These are focused either on job offers or on problems of the respective branch. A stand-alone and interesting event is the Day of Tax and Audit, which always takes place in December and where the so-called ‘Big Four’ companies participate. Approximately 120 students participate each year. In February 2010, the Day of Banking was undertaken for the first time; this is where representatives of the three biggest Czech banks presented aspects of the branches of investment banking, corporate banking and credit risk. Partner firms also cooperate on other workshops that prepare students for entering the labor market. These focus on career planning, preparation of CVs, job interview training, assessment center and other career-related topics. Some ten workshops for a total of 300 students are organized annually.
The third activity is provision of offers of full- and part-time jobs, internships, trainee programs and summer jobs for both students and graduates of VŠE. Students can find job offers in a special section of the university’s website, on RPC’s Facebook profile and on notice boards; they are also sent by e-mail. Students can choose to be informed about the RPC’s offers within the Integrated Study Information System (ISIS). They can choose whether they wish to be informed about job offers or about student competitions, career counseling, job fairs, participation in HR polls and many other things. Each new event or offer by RPC is sent only to the students who wish to be informed.
The fourth field of activities is provision of various possibilities for firms to present themselves at VŠE – in glass showcases, on wall posters, posters, LCD displays or in study guides, books or during sport events. The fifth aspect is support of or cooperation in organization of student competitions. One new project started in autumn 2009 is EconTech, which is based on cooperation of four- to five-member student teams from both VŠE and ČVUT (Czech Technical University in Prague); these teams attempt to solve practical problems proposed by partner firms.
More detailed information about the Development and Counseling Centre is available online at http://rpc.vse.cz/en.
Photo No. 1: Signing of cooperation agreement – General Director of L’Oréal CZ Marco FABIEN and president of VŠE prof. Ing. Richard HINDLS, CSc.
Photo No. 2: Gernot MITTENDORFER, CEO of the Czech Savings Bank (Česká spořitelna, general partner of VŠE), at the Day with VŠE
Photo No. 3: “Šance” Job Fair