"For students, facing tasks that arise in a real business environment, and the experience gained through solving them, is excellent preparation for the challenges that will await them in their future workplace."
At the very end of the winter semester, three student teams delivered project solutions for APIS IT doo, a strategic company of special state interest in the field of public e-administration, in the Project Management course in the 2nd year of VERN's graduate study in IT management.
Each student team worked on a project assignment related to public e-government services during the last semester, while also mastering project management material based on the knowledge catalog of the so-called PMBOK Guide. They examined the availability, recognition and use of public sector e-services, analyzed which mobile applications in the field of e-government exist and which are most used, and designed a new e-service for citizens, structuring the findings into appropriate project plans.
After they presented their solutions, business mentor Katarina Rebernak from APIS's Project Management Department pointed out that "the concept of a company-partner that combines teamwork and learning by doing in teaching, or learning through practical tasks, is not only useful for students. For them, facing tasks that appear in a real business environment, and the experience gained through solving them, is excellent preparation for the challenges that will await them in their future workplace. However, we as mentors also benefit because we get a fresh perspective and new ideas with which to return to our projects."
"For the last five years, we have been collaborating with various IT companies and STEM organizations to provide students with assignments from real-world environments, where they also have the opportunity to use the project management methods and tools they learn about during the semester," said the academic mentor on the project, lecturer M. Sc. Hrvoje Belani .
This collaboration was achieved within the framework of VERN's unique dual higher education model "companies-partners", which is an integral part of VERN's #EducationmeetsBusiness cooperation project with the economy, which combines theoretical knowledge and practical work on real business cases of some of the most successful companies and organizations operating in Croatia. The results of student projects often lead to the development of thesis topics, which is an added value of this approach to the education of future IT management masters.
