Finalist

Young Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award

GEA College

Finalist of the Young Entrepreneurial University of the Year Award

GEA College – Faculty of Entrepreneurship - Slovenia

"Entreprenurship is the future!"


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Summary

Every one of us wants to lead a fulfilling and meaningful life. In today's world we have set up very high standards for ourselves and others, and with the new generations coming forward, changes are happening with the speed of light. GEA College is an educational institution, but today offering just an education is not enough. Younger generations need to be empowered, we have to give them direction and knowledge that enables them to live a full life. It is important for society in general. It’s not an easy task but it is possible. We believe in it. We believe that having a certain set of values and living them is the keystone of society and advancement. It’s not enough that they are written and that we read them out loud every once in a while. We have to live them. Only that leads to younger generations adopting them and passing them forward. We trust in the power of connecting young individuals with seasoned elders. Many of our success stories have confirmed our beliefs. That is the main reason we work hard to connect our students with the economy and successful entrepreneurs, tying the connections here and abroad. We spread values like entrepreneurship, inventiveness, and being different, recognizable, and bold, both in formal and informal education. In all the study programs we offer, theory and practical training are intertwined, and the focus is on connecting with the economy during studies.
We are focusing on entrepreneurship and management for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as family businesses that are hidden treasure of inventiveness and audacity. These are the companies that pour their heart into business and are quickly adaptable. These are the companies with huge potential as new generations will lead them. And this is our key role – supporting them so they can showcase their inventiveness and boldness, and teaching them contemporary approaches to managing the company. This is where our future lies.
While GEA College seeks to remain small and agile, it has developed into one of the largest centres of entrepreneurship education in Slovenia. Here we co-create conditions for the development of the global business environment by spreading the entrepreneurial mindset and teaching entrepreneurship and related business sciences. We create new knowledge through research and transfer it into practice, thus connecting science with the economy. We encourage innovation and creativity, which will lead to new business ideas and the identification of business opportunities feasible in practice. Our core values make us entrepreneurial, different, recognizable, innovative and bold.

Key People


Katja Kraškovic, MSc
Director and Dean
GEA College – Faculty of Entrepreneurship



Nataša Makovec, MSc
Director and Headmaster
GEA College – Centre of Higher Vocational Schools



assoc. prof. dr Mitja Jeraj
Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs
GEA College – Faculty of Entrepreneurship



doc. dr. Valentina Jošt Lešer
Vice Dean for the International Cooperation; MBA program director at GEA College
GEA College – Faculty of Entrepreneurship



prof. dr. Ajda Fošner
Director of Research institute
GEA College – Faculty of Entrepreneurship


Acknowledgements

GEA College Incubator is a supportive environment, assisting many individuals, “young” companies, or start-ups to launch their companies and/or accelerate their growth. As the name suggests, it was established for nurturing new or young companies in the starting phase and supporting existing companies. The Incubator activities within the “SIO Inkubator GEA 2020–22” operation is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Fund for Regional Development. The operation is implemented within the framework of the Operational Programme for the Implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy in the period 2014–2020, priority axis: 3 dynamic and competitive entrepreneurships for green economic growth. Because of our connections with entrepreneurs, we can enable start-ups to get acquainted with an entrepreneurial mindset, spreading their social and business networks. There are over 1,500 experts in our network, which we gladly connect them to.

Images

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

We all know big names like Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Richard Branson (Virgin), Steve Jobs (Apple) in Larry Page (Google) had mentors. We believe in connecting and every year we are witness to exceptional stories in our Mentorship program in cooperation with SBC (Slovenian Business Club). It’s designed to connect our students to successful and well-known businessmen, members of SBC. We pick our most entrepreneurial students and enable them to interact with mentors for the purpose of exchanging experiences and knowledge in business.
Every year at the end of June, we organize a closing meeting where we examine the results and gather the opinions of the mentors and students. They develop strong bonds and form new friendships. This project offers excitement, and gives them even more motivation, increasing their innovativeness and courage to do more. Mentors are thrilled to be able to pass their knowledge to young generations and contribute to a better world for all to come. These are the stories written every year and affect the lives of our students, their families, and society.
Everyone involved in projects and programs at GEA College spreads our core values, stimulating an entrepreneurial mindset and innovativeness. We are tremendously proud of the impact we have on our students, and ourselves for providing them a great starting point, providing knowledge and skills for them to leave a mark in this world.

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

One must keep in mind we can only teach what we live. The focus of our work is on providing young people with the supportive environment and equipping them with tools, knowledge, and competencies that help them at all levels of their lives, not just professional. The key is offering them wider support, which is something we at GEA College work hard for. What makes us successful is that we align our passion for entrepreneurship with our purpose, and we focus on lasting solutions that have a greater impact on our society. We demonstrate a growth mindset and desire for learning and advancement. We inspire greatness and sponsor collaboration on all levels. We strive for continuous improvement. It is a diligent work that has to be done in order to advance as a society. We respect diversity and accept the differences in new generations. They teach us a lot, and we are proud of our openness. We cooperate, we communicate, and make sure everyone's being heard. We live our core values and inspire our students to also be as entrepreneurial, different, recognizable, bold and innovative as we are.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

The main focus of GEA College for the future will stay spreading out entrepreneurial mindset and encouraging people to dare. We will further inspire and encourage the young and in particular, women for entrepreneurship. The goal of GEA College is to keep developing new programs that the future and the market need, making innovative and creative programs for companies, students and broader society. We work on interdisciplinarity and project-oriented programs. We are focusing on excellence in teaching, new and diverse methods of teaching and work. Engaging students and the young in creating new ideas, ventures and projects it is crucial. We are staying connected with the economy and opening internationally. We will connect programs with different institutions abroad, so we enrich the study of our students.


KEY STATISTICS

More than 25.000 people

Has been educated in the formal and informal education programs at GEA College

97 %

The number of our graduates that are employed within one year after earning a degree

364

Number of participants in Erasmus+, the EU's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe

1.669.825 EUR in 2016 vs. 3.048.031 EUR in 2021

Revenues of all entities of GEA College increased substantially

1.170.864 EUR in 2016 vs. 1.668.986 EUR in 2021

Revenues of GEA College – Faculty of Entrepreneurship increased

291 students in 2015/2016 vs. 417 in 2021/2022

Increase in number of students at GEA College – Faculty of Entreprenurship

From 3 to 7

Increased number of formal programs at GEA College – Faculty of Entreprenurship

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