september 2020

Based on the Decision on the award of financial support for project
proposals under the Call for Proposals for 2020 for the Erasmus +
program (Key Activity 2 for Higher Education), the EU Agency for
Mobility and Programs accepted funding for the Strategic Partnership
in Higher Education project entitled Promoting social entrepreneurship
in higher education for a prosperous society (acronym:
PROSPER). The Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb
is a partner in the project, and the project leader is Assist. Prof.
Zoran Wittine, Ph.D.
A total of 6 partners from Croatia, Poland, Austria, Greece, and Bulgaria
will participate in the project activities. The three partners are
higher education institutions: the Faculty of Economics, University
of Zagreb (HR), the University of Silesia (PL), and the Macedonian
University (GR), while the remaining partners are the nonprofit organizations
focused on social, academic, and entrepreneurial development.
PROSPER comes as a response to the perceived need to include socially
responsible economy and socially responsible entrepreneurship
in higher education and will focus in particular on countries
where the concept of social economy enjoys a moderate level of
recognition and is underrepresented. According to available data,
the countries from which the partners who will participate in this
project come have very low employment rates within social entrepreneurship,
in which, in a negative sense, unfortunately, Croatia
leads. At the same time, the links between entities in this sector and
the research community are extremely weak, while at the same time
socially responsible entrepreneurship is very closely represented in
higher education. In this context, it is difficult to exploit the full
potential of socially responsible entrepreneurship and offer complete
solutions to important social issues.
Recognizing these needs and studying the latest trends in education,
PROSPER strives to develop a transdisciplinary online platform that
will facilitate students' learning through collaboration, exchange of
knowledge and experience, and open access to more than 100 educational
resources to be created during the project. At the same time,
an innovative, transdisciplinary and effective educational program
within higher education will be developed for this purpose, and
through network channels of communication, the interaction between
professors, students, and socially responsible entrepreneurs
will be encouraged.
On September 24, 2020, the Office for International Cooperation organized the first in a series of
online meetings with incoming students in exchange who will spend the winter semester at the
FEB ZG. The staff of the Office explained in more detail the first administrative steps and informed
the students about the beginning of classes.
After an initial 117, most likely due to Covid-19 and the transition to online classes, the number
of students in exchange this winter semester has dropped to 75. Students come from 12 different
countries, mostly from Portugal, France, Spain, and Germany. Most of them are carrying out
their mobility this year as part of the Erasmus+ program.
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