For the first time, VŠFS had the opportunity and great pleasure of participating as one of six international teams for the Intensive Program Sustainable Banking and Finance. To represent our university, Ing. Josef Budík, CSc. of the Department of Finance, here at VŠFS, along with 3 other students had the honour of partaking in the event. The event was hosted by the Faculty of Finance and Insurance at the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland from the 3rd to the 7th of April 2017.
Each year, the event is held by different universities around Europe, with previous hosts including; Rotterdam (2014), Madrid (2015) and Ghent (2016). This year, students and lecturers worked together in developing research-based projects focused on six different areas within the finance and sustainability sector. Each team would then submit their findings in a paper to be peer reviewed in an academic journal. Contenders included members from the University of Economics in Katowice, Inholland University of Applied Sciences (Rotterdam), University College Ghent, CEU San Pablo (Madrid), London South Bank University and our very own VSFS University of Finance and Administration.
Throughout the week, students participated in various activities related to the event, starting with a lecture run by Sandra Schoonhoven, the Head of Sustainability Programmes with the Global Sustainability ING Bank in the Netherlands. Next, they were involved in workshops held by Professor Ewa Maruszewska (University of Economics in Katowice) and Sarah Dukel (Inholland University of Applied Sciences – Rotterdam) on Ethics in Accounting and Intercultural Communication, respectively.
At the end of the event, the paper voted the best amongst all the teams was based on Corporate Governance – Bankers’ Bonuses. The team was a made up of members from CEU San Pablo in Madrid, University of Economics in Katowice and Inholland University of Applied Sciences – Rotterdam.
This was an excellent opportunity for our students to network and hone their communication, research and paper-writing skills, while also investigating a new subject area and applying it in a competitive environment with the additional benefit of an international setting. The experience they have received from this event has given them skills that could one day enable them in their future careers and it would come highly recommended that students have the chance to follow in their footsteps and engage in these sort of activities in the future as well.
