Information for incoming students and staff

Erasmus semester at Gea College in Ljubljana was one of the best decisions I have made during my studies. Gea College is a university with relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Thanks to the professors with numerous practical experience, mostly international, I got the chance to enrich my knowledge in the field of my study, but also in the area of self-development. Ljubljana is cosy, students’ city, which has a lot to offer, just like Slovenia itself. There were always things to do and I have properly enjoyed the time I have spent over there, together with my Erasmus friends, traveling through the main highlights of Slovenia. From Erasmus semester at Gea College in Ljubljana I am carrying away only good memories and I am surely coming back one day.

I did my winter Erasmus semester at GEA college and I do not regret it at all. We were a small class of Erasmus students and sometimes we had classes with slovens students. We had lots of teamwork and oral presentations, we even did one in a sloven company. It was very useful to improve my English. Classes were very interesting and we had teachers from different countries around the world. They all try to integrate all Erasmus to their courses by using examples from our countries. Slovenia is a small country with beautiful landscapes and Ljubljana is such a great place to live. For me, it was an incredible experience and I recommend this school and this country to students who would like to do their Erasmus semester.

My ERASMUS+ experience in Ljubljana was very positive and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to do my semester abroad here.First of all, Ljubljana itself is a very cultural hotspot because people from different Balkan countries live there. Therefore, it was interesting to hear from locals how different each Balkan country and culture is.Ljubljana also offers many cultural activities such as museum visits, ballet performances, beautiful architecture, and history. During the summer there were events every single day that you could attend such as concerts in the city center which were free of charge.What is also special about Ljubljana is that it is very easy to visit other countries such as Italy, Austria, Croatia, etc. from here due to its central location. Zagreb airport is also not far away, from where you can fly to countries further afield. Slovenia also offers a lot of nature, like beautiful mountains and lakes where you can swim. And everything is no more than 2 hours away by bus.Thanks to the ESN office, there was also the possibility to visit different cities in one day, such as Verona, Venice, Rovinj etc.So, I was able to travel a lot during my stay and see different cities almost on a weekly basis!In the evening you could visit the bars and cafés along the river and enjoy the atmosphere of the town.My experience with GEA College was also very positive. The modules were very interesting, and a lot of interaction was asked to keep everything lively. Therefore, there was a lot of communication between us students and the teachers, which was very beneficial to the learning effect.If you had any problems, for example registering for an exam or other things, the GEA College staff were helpful and very friendly. You were never left alone and every question you had was answered. I am very grateful for the help everyone there offered and made our stay as pleasant as possible!

˝Visiting GEA College was very useful and inspiring experience for me. It was very nice to hear students’ ideas and their plans for the future. They are really creative and open-minded, so I’ sure there is a bright future in front of them. Of course, success taked time, but I hope they learned something new at today’s lecture and practical work in the Brand Personality Cards exercise and that they will be able to use this knowledge to upgrade their ideas and bring them to the higher level. I’m happy that I participated as a guest-lecturer within Erasmus mobility for teaching staff, since I strongly believe how Erasmus mobility offers numerous benefits for participants. Besides new experiences and new way of thinking, it broadens your horizons in more ways you could ever imagine, gives you different perspective and different point of view on the thigs you know and things you are familiar with. We encourage our students to use opportunities that Erasmus is offering to them as well, since this is something they will probably remember for the rest of their lives. Thank you for inviting me to GEA College and giving me this great opportunity. I really hope that we will continue our cooperation in the future, not only through Erasmus+ programme, but also through other projects and experiences.˝

The “Funtrepreneurship” Bootcamp (GEA College Bootcamp for Future Entrepreneurs) is really a unique format that can easily compete with similar activities offered in other start-up nations and at start-up driven universities and institutions. GEA College has always been a frontrunner in the development of new and attractive formats in entrepreneurship education – an experience obtained through many different activities in a network of 16 universities in Southeastern Europe and Germany (including GEA College in Ljubljana and Worms University in Germany) that cooperate in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation management. Hence, it was a great pleasure to participate and help as Professor for International Entrepreneurship in running both weeks of this year’s bootcamp with so many nice colleagues and experts from Slovenia and a colleague from Croatia (VERN University) – and with participants from all around the world. A truly international experience! How to develop the entrepreneurial spirit and to lay the foundation of a start-up, to identify the most critical assumptions in every business model, and how to pitch ideas in a way that investors and stakeholders would be eager to learn more – these topics dominated the first week of the bootcamp. Many different insights from an international team of professors, specialists, institutions and communication designers generated interesting and prospering business ideas and concepts and personal challenges for all participants in very dynamic teams. GEA College perfectly organized this first week – not only in terms of content and format, but also created a great atmosphere with plenty of activities in the evenings. A real bootcamp feeling! A particular highlight was the second week of the bootcamp with projects dedicated to growth challenges of start-ups, small- and medium-sized businesses and family businesses. Everyday a new company in a different industry location in Slovenia – and everyday a new challenge ranging from creating an innovation culture via developing an international brand for a new product line for Eastern European markets to developing new business concepts and platforms for digital high- performing companies that have the power to disrupt entire industries. With deep insights into the founders’ and managers’ ideas, visions, philosophies and experiences – never a dull moment for all participants. And a lot of hard work but full of interesting and fun moments. The case studies had been carefully prepared by the GEA College together with the companies in advance and were handed out to all participants beforehand and included a particular challenge currently preoccupying the company’s management, marketing department or board of directors and for which creative solutions for growth and development were needed. The results were highly appreciated by the companies – who also took the time to inform, listen and discuss the many creative suggestions and solutions developed by the international teams of participants. For me the fortnight provided a lot of inspiration and input for my entrepreneurial teaching and was a real transfer of knowledge fully in line with the ERASMUS idea. A very big “thank you” from me to GEA College (in particular to Marina Letonja and her team) for this really great opportunity and for the fantastic organization. I will be back! Prof. Dr. Michael Graef, Professor for International Entrepreneurship and International Management, Worms University, Faculty of Business Administration and Management, Department of International Business Administration and Foreign Trade, Germany

My participation at the first week of “Funtrepreneurship” (GEA College Bootcamp for Future Entrepreneurs) through Erasmus Teaching Exchange Program from 2-8. July 2017, was truly inspiring experience! For me, as teacher and trainer of entrepreneurship and innovation, it was a pleasure to be part of so carefully designed program offered to the excellent group of Slovenian and international students by GEA College, our partner from Ljubljana. These students worked on jointly developed projects addressing care for elderly, and, in the same time, they have had an opportunity to develop their talents and skills in the areas of designing entrepreneurial activity, creative ideas creation, market development, business model thinking, evaluation of financial concepts and options, and mastering presentation skills. It was very well designed project that has resulted with outlines of very interesting 5 projects, which could be realized very quickly. The teachers involved in delivering this program were Slovenian and international teachers, entrepreneurs and consultants. Also, site visits to ABC start-up accelerator, ABC incubator/hub, and creative co-working space Poligon were invaluable hands-on experience for all participants. I have enjoyed having various roles in this program: in some parts of it I was a participant, mentor, teacher (one-page business plan, effectuation entrepreneurship), and, finally, part of the international jury who rated projects according to the given criteria of clarity, efficiency and innovation. Participants reported that this model of concentrated and condensed learning was very useful, and it provided them with necessary skills and competences to develop and launch entrepreneurial projects. GEA college was great organizer and host of this event. Compliments to prof. Marina Letonja and her team! I am looking forward to future development and continuation of this project, and hope it will provide a good platform and more room for cooperation between GEA college and University for Applied Sciences VERN’ in the future. Gordana Coric, Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics and Deputy Head of the Studies Entrepreneurial Economics at VERN’ University of Applied Sciences (Zagreb, Coratia)