Bucharest University of Economic Studies – 2021

In Romania, almost one third of population is living in poverty (Eurostat data for 2019). Our University submitted to the action initiated by the Ministry of Education for promoting positive discrimination in allocating study grants to underprivileged / underrepresented categories from the rural area or Roma ethnicity and provided 93 places with grants for these students for the academic year 2019-2020 and 98 places for the academic year 2020-2021.

ASE carried out different campaigns for promoting the educational offer in disadvantaged areas, in high schools in rural areas or localities with less than 10,000 inhabitants.

The graduation and completion rate is carefully monitored by each faculty. The specialists of the Centre of Counselling and Career Orientation carried out and published several research documents on this topic, with the aim of further designing measures and taking action for improving the graduation rate and increasing the quality of teaching:

• Socio-professional insertion of ASE graduates
• Evaluating the opinion of employers, regarding the quality of graduates and study programs offered by ASE.

Different other projects, targeting better insertion on the labour market:

• “Modernization and efficiency of the educational infrastructure of the ASE in order to support and develop the practical component of teaching activities”, which contributes to the development and efficiency of infrastructures to support teaching activities for the good adaptation of graduates to the challenges of the labour market. It intends to strengthen the system of partnerships with national and international representative organizations, in order to develop education and research networks and to support the development of partnerships with economic organizations for providing internship stages for students and developing applied research projects.
• The project “ASE Team! Inclusion and equity for ASE students“, which included courses for students in order to develop transversal skills and prevent university dropout, online counselling sessions (both individual and group) to support and advise students, support and counselling of second year students in accomplishing their internship stages.

• Free medical and dentistry services inside the campus
• Free places within the National Program “Student Camps” 2019
• Lower prices for the meals at the canteens inside the campus
• Subsidized accommodation in ASE student dorms. For example:
  • Students whose families earn an average net monthly income per family member less than the value of the minimum net basic salary per economy have priority for accommodation in students dorms.
  • ASE granted 30 places for the financial support of the students from the undergraduate and master’s degree programs, representing social cases (which involved conducting activities within the ASE and receiving scholarships to allow them to pay the tuition fee).
  • In the academic year 2020-2021, places in dormitories were provided, upon request, for students coming from rural areas with poor internet connection, in order to help them and to carry out teaching activities in the best possible conditions.
• Free rail transportation for all the students, according to the law.

Different events, organized within ASE, often with the support of the business environment, targeting their integration on the labour market, such as:

• Faculty of Management: the event “Insertion of the management graduate on the labor market – present and future”; the webinar “Financial and money management – Methods of improving personal finances”.
• Webinar on the topic “Career & Development in Business Process Management”, developed by the WNS Global Services company representatives.
• Faculty of Finance, Insurance, Banking and Stock Exchange: study visits to different companies: DELOITTE, PROCTER&GAMBLE Romania SA, OTTO BROKER SA etc.
• Other events developed by the Centre of Counselling and Career Orientation.

“Academia SpEranței” (the Academy of Hope) is a charitable project of ASE coordinated by SiSC with the support of Prof. Dr. Virginia Mărăcine. The project is based on the desire of young volunteers to help community members who face difficult material situations, humanitarian or medical cases. The Academia SpEranței team organizes a wide range of events whose mission is to raise funds for humanitarian causes. The raised donations are used to purchase the necessary goods for people who need help, or reach them directly for solving their difficult situations.

The Centre of Counselling and Career Orientation in ASE is strongly involved in developing support services for students and prospective students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds and at risk of early abandonment of studies, in order to ensure student retention in academic studies and integrate graduates on the labour market.

ASE implements plans and programmes related to preventing school dropout, targeting students from the first year of study and assessing the difficulties they are confronted with in order to design and implement remedial activities:

• Access to Studies and Equity for all (Faculty of Agri-food and Environmental Economics)
• Performance and continuity for the manager’s career (Faculty of Management)
• From university dropout to performance in Business and Tourism (BT)
• Increasing academic performance in higher education in the financial field by preventing the abandonment of university studies
• Internships and career guidance activities for undergraduate students Business Administration and Economics and International Business – BREIT project
• Responsibility, Originality, Sustainability and Ethics – Familiarizing students at risk of dropping out with the values of a successful, competitive and inclusive academic environment
• Chances of success for first year accounting students
• “ASE Team! Inclusion and equity for ASE students”

Mentoring provided through the activities of the project Development and consolidation of students’ skills through internships in accounting and finance.

The Students’ Union from the Faculty of Cybernetics, Statistics and Economic Informatics (SiSC) helps students from undergraduate programs in deepening the notions taught, through tutoring activities, within the SiSC Tutoring program. On the SiSC website, internships and job offers are frequently posted, in order to support students.

Virtual Career Fairs or job offers, provided on the websites of the faculties.

ASE has concluded a Partnership Agreement with one of the largest employers’ organizations in Romania, the Concordia Confederation. This partnership aims to develop joint projects and initiatives in the area of business and entrepreneurship in order to develop the skills and competencies of university students.

The Future Stars project, launched in 2020, aims at increasing the number of graduates who find a job, by strengthening sustainable institutional partnerships between the university and private employers. The focus is on enhancing employment in competitive economic sectors and fields of smart specialization. 

The Perform BT project is dedicated to students in the first year of study in order to increase the retention rate, the graduation and the insertion on the labour market, facilitating understanding and assimilation of knowledge for those with a high risk of dropping out of university.

There are several types of scholarships created in the benefit of students:

• Scholarships for financial support of students with low incomes:
  • social aid scholarships, which are granted throughout the whole academic year to students with low incomes.
  • occasional social aid scholarships, which consists of a social aid for clothing and footwear, for maternity or in case of the death of a member of the student’s family.
• Scholarships for excellence in research, which are granted from the university’s own funds and performance scholarships for outstanding learning outcomes.
• Other special scholarships can be granted from own funds to students who carry out activities in the interest of the ASE.
• Two special scholarships of EUR 1,000 each – King Carol 1st and Queen Elisabeth – are granted to students with good results and with a very low income per family member.
• ASE selects students who want to get involved in activities in the interest of the university and receive a monthly scholarship to cover the value of the tuition fee.

Scholarships could also target students which are foreign citizens, such as citizens of Republic of Moldova and Romanian citizens in neighbouring countries (Albania, Ukraine, Macedonia), or other foreign citizens who study in Romania based on the regulations in force approved by the relevant ministry.  83 scholarships for non-EU citizens were granted in 2020.

Support, counselling and information is provided by the Centre of Counselling and Career Orientation.

The university offers housing all around Bucharest, access to medical services, sport facilities.

Educational resources, both free and paid, and financial assistance

The FRESHconsult project is an innovative approach, unique in the Romanian university environment, through which over 1000 students have offered free generic consulting for 275 Romanian entrepreneurs, from micro and small companies. Their knowledge and creativity have materialized in over 1000 proposals, many already put into practice. The project is under development.

The Student Entrepreneurship Society was established in 2017 and its mission is to create a favourable environment and a complementary framework for supporting and developing the entrepreneurial spirit of ASE students. During 2020, the activity of the Student Entrepreneurial Society (SAS) aimed at increasing the interest and awareness of the benefits of innovative entrepreneurship among ASE students, conducting courses, trainings and mentoring activities, and developing the ASE Entrepreneur community, which brings together students with entrepreneurial initiative from the university. Activities:

• The fourth edition of the GoBiz business ideas, organized in 2020, with the purpose of identifying ASE students interested in starting their own business and to support the best ideas through mentoring and incubation.
• Implementing the project “ROLEmodel – We promote entrepreneurial students”, with collecting “success stories” to inspire the whole community and other students for opening a business. A business guide of the students of the ASE was created.
• Providing mentoring activities for entrepreneurial students participating in the ROLEmodel project as well as through the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for students who intend to start their own business.

The Centre of Excellence in Foreign Trade, established in 2018, has the mission of becoming a national and international hub of projects, applications and actions dedicated to Romanian exporters and entrepreneurs in their efforts to improve their presence on global markets. One of the Centre’s objectives is to provide entrepreneurial and financial education, especially as a form of support for small and medium enterprises which tend to internationalize. Projects developed in 2020:

• Doctoral research project with financing from the European Investment Bank, STAREBEI-Sustainable Paths of Just Transition for the Coal Regions in Romania. This allows the evaluation of the opportunities for redesigning the structure of exports coming from the mining regions of Romania, reoriented from raw materials to value-added services, in the context of Just Transition.
• Educational projects: Erasmus+ EXPOVET ‒ Joint VET Course for Export Experts, where workshops with elements related to the training of export staff – available courses and quality assurance methods – were organised.
• Entrepreneurial and financial education (support in international opening for small and medium-sized enterprises): a master’s degree program in foreign trade at the Faculty of International Business and Economics.

Courses provided within different programmes:

• ViSENet: Village Social Enterprise learning material, guidance and networking, which aims to enhance the ideas and methods to promote and support social entrepreneurship in rural areas;
• Community Learning for Local Change, which promotes creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and skills for designing innovation in close cooperation with the communities in which the universities are embedded.

Free business consulting services, focused on crisis management, for Romanian entrepreneurs during pandemic.

Summer Schools. Although paused in 2020 due to pandemic, ASE has a tradition in organising several summer schools which attract large participation, as they provide opportunities for further improving entrepreneurial skills, following various presentations on entrepreneurial, economic and socio-cultural topics. There were several summer schools organised in 2019: “Bucharest Summer University”, “Data Science” “Entrepreneurship and the German Language”, “Entrepreneurship and the French Language” and „How to Manage Change – The Digitisation Revolution”.  

Events dedicated to students, among which: “Preparing for employment”, “From avoiding failure to successful experimentation – benchmark keys in shaping the job interview”, “Teamwork and overcoming conflicts” etc.

More in-depth knowledge is provided by specific master’s degree programs (such as: Entrepreneurship and business administration, Entrepreneurial law) or MBA programme („Entrepreneurial management”). ASE also provides postgraduate training and continuing professional development programs, targeting the development of entrepreneurial skills (such as the programme “Managers and leadership” and “Business administration in the wine industry”).

A series of training programs for adults were organized within the project “Support for the adaptation of managers, entrepreneurs and workers in the Centre region to changes in the social and economic environment, in the spirit of the principles of sustainable development and social innovation (BusinessPro)”. There were 164 certified graduates in Entrepreneurial skills and 87 certified graduates in Product Manager.

Organizing different domestic and international conferences focused on developing businesses and providing training workshops:

• The 6th BASIQ International Conference on New Trends in Sustainable Business and Consumption”
• The 9th edition of the International Conference “Competitiveness of Agro-food and Environmental Economy – CAFEE 2020“
• The 14th International Management Conference “Managing Sustainable Organizations”
• The 3rd International Conference on Economics and Social Sciences. Innovative Models to Revive the Global Economy
• The 14th International Conference on Business Excellence (ICBE)

• Basic First Aid courses organized by ASE and the SMURD Foundation, within the Project “The Academy of Hope – Volunteering from Love for Life”  
• The Centre of Counselling and Career Orientation provides specialized support to persons who have been, are and will be included in the educational programs of ASE and not only, in order to optimize their educational and professional path. During 2020, the direct beneficiaries were ASE students, regardless of the study program they attend or the form of education, including foreign students coming to ASE through mobility programs; high school students, belonging to high schools that have concluded partnerships with ASE; ASE or other university graduates; employees within ASE.
• ASE took supportive measures in helping the fight against the pandemic, while a team of ASE teachers submitted for approval a 3D printable semi-mask, useful in hospitals in the fight against COVID 19. 
• Training sessions on various topics, organized by the ASE Library             
• A series of available materials, such as online courses, digitized publications, eBooks and others are available free of charge, for all, through the website of the ASE Library 
• The development of the institutional development project “Increasing research capacity in the economic field by developing transdisciplinary research infrastructures – CERTRAN“

ASE is partner in different projects that enables the university to be an active designer and promoter of measures for addressing poverty and sustainable development:

• The project “SUSCHOICE: Towards SUStainable Food and Drink CHOICEs among European Young Adults: Drivers, Barriers and Strategical Implications” is a transnational project with representatives from 5 countries, which investigates the determinants of sustainable food and drink choices among European young adults and provides policy makers and food and drink companies with recommendations for promoting sustainable food and drink production practices and consumption choices in Europe.
• The research project “MIMY” (“Towards a better understanding of the integration process of young migrants”), launched in 2020 in Luxembourg. The project aims to improve the situation of young migrants in Europe through a multi-level analysis of the various integration processes. Research will focus on the dynamic process of integration, on multiple levels: at macro level (EU migration policies), at mesolevel (regional economic and social systems) and at micro level (individual practices). ASE is involved in all the activities of the project.
• ASE is collaborating with the Republic of Korea under the “Knowledge Sharing Program”, a tool through which Korea experience in the field of development is transferred to partner states. A special focus was granted to the consolidation and development of the Research Center for Productivity Studies within ASE.

Collaboration with the public and private environment:

• ASE initiated the research project entitled “ReStartEconomia. Measures to combat the economic and social effect of COVID 19 in Romania”. The main objective of the project is to find solutions for Romanian companies and public entities to help them survive the current situation of pandemic and to support public authorities and companies through solutions and recommendations to limit the economic and social effects of COVID-19 and avoid a deep economic crisis. Furthermore, following an integrated analysis of economic experts, recommendations will be made in the form of government measures to develop improved public policies for the current economic situation, to support the business environment and the population affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, so that the number of insolvent companies and lost jobs is kept to a minimum.
• ASE has launched the first Romanian study on the implementation of the guarantee-deposit system for returnable packaging, as a support for the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests.  The study presents a series of analyzes of the systems used in other European countries, as well as the analysis of the social, environmental and economic-financial impact for the guarantee system in Romania. The study can be consulted on the website of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. It is an important benchmark on how collaboration between central authorities, the private sector and academia should take place.
• Together with ASE, PENNY launched the study on the trade balance with Romanian agri-food products. In an attempt to understand the preferences of Romanians, ASE and PENNY have developed this study, which reconfirms a situation for which it is important to find solutions – Romania imports more than exports and most of the raw materials are not processed in the country.

ASE participation in conferences targeting problems that generate and maintain poverty during 2020:

• The meeting of the UNESCO Chair for Business Administration on “Education for Sustainable Development”, which brought together over 100 participants in an online format, with the aim of exchanging ideas, initiating and developing common projects with regard to the United Nations Goals for Sustainable Development.
• The Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, organized by the Belgrade Institute of Agrarian Economics. Current topics on the development of agriculture and the food industry, agricultural policy measures, socio-economic revitalization programs of the rural area, climate change and their impact on the agri-food sector, etc. were addressed and debated.
• The conference “Educated Romania – public policies and coordination of funding sources”. Representatives of the Presidential Administration, members of the Romanian Government, of pre-university and university educational institutions, specialists in the field of education were present. The event marked the launch of four public policy documents, with the following themes: professionalization of teaching career, improving educational management, increasing equity in education and improving access to early education. At the end of the conference, an inter-institutional dialogue took place on the future of financing education in Romania, in the context of the priorities agreed within the “Educated Romania” Project.
• The BucharestFood Summit event, 3rd edition, the online Conference “How do we accelerate the integration of production and sales in agribusiness? Efficient production technologies. Own store chains or supermarkets? Accelerated sales”. BucharestFoodSummit.ro is the largest and most important international autumn event in the fields of agribusiness, food production, beverage production, retail and HoReCa.
• ASE’s participation in EIB Civil Society Seminar and RIB Civil Society Seminar on topics regarding poverty.