Transnational meetings

Within the strategic partnership exchange of good practice, a project entitled "Challenges and practices of teaching economic disciplines in era of digitalization" (acronym: DIGI4Teach) co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (Key Activity 2 in the field of vocational education and training), an introductory transnational project meeting was held on 26^th and 27^th November 2020. Within the transnational meeting, the project framework and course of the project activities, general contractual conditions, financial aspects of grant implementation, and obligations of dissemination of the project activities and results, as well as experiences of the existing use of digital tools in the field of vocational education and further steps within the project were presented. The working part of the meeting also included presentations of experiences of the current use of digital tools in the field of vocational education, the opportunities and challenges of teaching in the context of digital transformation were discussed, and as a result of active discussion conclusions on how to successfully deal with future challenges were presented. Furthermore, the participants were introduced to future steps and activities related to the joint training of teachers involved in project activities that will be implemented within the project. The project coordinator is the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business that hosted this meeting. The meeting was opened with a welcoming speech by the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Economics & Business, associate professor Sanja Sever Mališ, Ph.D. and was closed by the Vice Dean, associate professor Kosjenka Dumančić, Ph.D. The Vice Deans congratulated all the organizations involved in this project and wished them a lot of success in carrying out the project activities. The project manager, assistant professor Nikolina Dečman, Ph.D. moderated the meeting, while all the project members from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business team presented the above-mentioned topics.

The transnational meeting was held in a virtual environment via the Google Meet platform. The meeting was attended by the representatives of all the project partners organizations: Cracow University of Economics (PL), Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Management, Culture and Technology (DE), University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics (RS), First School of Economics, Second School of Economics, and Third School of Economics from Zagreb, School of Economics, Trade and Hospitality from Samobor and the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics & Business.

The DIGI4Teach project lasts 18 months and was started on 1^st November 2020. The main objectives of the project include: (1) improvement of teaching skills and teaching practices in different economic disciplines with special emphasis pointed out to the era of digitization by sharing existing good practices and analysing use of new digital teaching and learning technologies in vocational education of economists; (2) encouraging digitalization in participating organizations; and (3) increasing students satisfaction with acquired knowledge and skills in developing their own entrepreneurial ideas and better inclusion in the labour market. The exchange of good practice between the project partners is expected to respond to the challenges associated with the use of digital technology in teaching economic disciplines and thus enable students to be more prepared for the challenges that await them at higher levels of the education system as well as in the labour market. Given the set goals, a pleasant working atmosphere throughout the transnational meeting as well as the involvement of all representatives of project partners’ institutions in active discussion, it is expected that the partnership between higher and secondary education institutions will contribute to the development of teaching skills that will stimulate creative thinking and further support the entrepreneurial spirit of vocational education students.

The transnational meeting is followed by preparations for the learning, teaching, and training activities planned for 2021.