The Career Centre of the University of Maribor engages in activities related to integrated career development of students, graduates and secondary school students, their appropriate job search as well as their easier transition to the labour market. More about our offer.

As part of the “Public Call for Strengthening the Role of Career Centres in the Holistic Treatment of Students” announced by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, in 2022, the University of Maribor successfully obtained funds for implementing the project “Strengthening the Activities and Role of the Career Centre of the University of Maribor in the Holistic Treatment of Students” from the European Social Fund (80%) and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation (20%) in accordance with the Operational Programme for the Implementation of the Cohesion Policy for the period 2014−2020; Priority axis 1: 10. Knowledge, skills and lifelong learning to enhance employability; Investment priority: 10.1 Enhancing equal access to lifelong learning for all age groups in formal; non-formal and informal settings, upgrading the knowledge, skills and competences of the workforce, and promoting flexible learning pathways including through career guidance and validation of acquired competences; Specific objective: 10.1.3 Promoting flexible learning pathways and supporting high-quality career orientation for school-age youth at all levels of the education system. The operation will be implemented in the west Slovenia cohesion region (hereinafter: WSCR) and the east Slovenia cohesion region (hereinafter: ESCR) by accounting for the registered headquarters of the beneficiary implementing the operation. Allocation of funding by cohesion region: WSCR (67%), and ESCR (33%). The duration of the project is from 1 January 2022 to 30 September 2023. Follow this link to find out more about the cohesion policy in Slovenia:  http://www.eu-skladi.si/.

Before that, in the period between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2015, the Career Centre of the University of Maribor operated as part of the project “Further Development and Performance of Activities of the Career Centre of the University of Maribor”, in the period between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2013 as part of the project “Establishment, Development and Provision of Conditions for a Long-Term Operation of the Career Centre Network at the University of Maribor” and in the period between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2020 as part of the project “Upgrading Activities of the Career Centre of the University of Maribor” which were also co-funded from the above-mentioned sources.

Project manager: mag. Andreja Nekrep, Assistant Secretary General for Research, International Projects and Development.

The following are the vision of the UM Career Centre and activities of the project “Strengthening the Activities and Role of the Career Centre of the University of Maribor in the Holistic Treatment of Students”.

Vision of the UM Career Centre

Establishment and operation of an effective centre which operates sustainably and represents one of the key activities of the University and all of its members as well as beside studies and research, offers students, graduates, post-graduates, early-stage researchers and young holders of doctorates in science a very important and indispensable activity for supporting integrated career development, job search, cooperation and integration with the key stakeholders in the environment, especially the employers, with active promotion of self-employment as a vital part of the Centre’s activities.

Activities of the project “Strengthening the Activities and Role of the Career Centre of the University of Maribor in the Holistic Treatment of Students”

  1. We will cooperate with institutions that cover the field of working with students from special groups, i.e., students with special status, students with special needs, students in distress that can have a negative impact on mental health, students who are subjected to violence, students with care responsibilities, students with other personal circumstances and other non-traditional groups of students. These institutions will contribute to successful work of the University of Maribor with special groups of students, to raising awareness and offering support in the career field and beyond for all groups of students, secondary school students and graduates, regardless of individual differences and situations in which they found themselves.
  2. We will organise events dedicated to the exchange of experience, results and good practice as a response of the educational system to the needs of the labour market and expectations of young people, at which findings and results of the operation will be presented to the representatives of target groups and the general public in Slovenia. At these events, we will raise awareness about the rights and obligations under a special status, special needs and other circumstances of secondary school students when entering a higher education institution, integrate with potential employers and present findings and results at the end of the project.
  3. We will make students aware of the importance of the equal treatment of students and other target groups. We will organise and implement events to inform students about the issues of special groups of students, to encourage them to be tolerant towards others and provide help as well as to promote discussions with experts. We will establish a Counselling Point enabling access to information for the support of students of special groups and at the same time for raising awareness on being different. We will promote the importance of equality and equal treatment of all students irrespective of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. We will integrate the above-mentioned topics to the ongoing activities of the UM Career Centre.
  4. We will train and educate ourselves in the field of offering support to students of special groups to make it easier and more efficient for us to operate in the support system for students of special groups as well as secondary school students and graduates and thus contribute to the promotion of an inclusive environment at the University of Maribor.
  5. We will establish a network of individuals with experience and knowledge for working with students of special groups with the aim to exchange experience and transfer knowledge to the employees at the University of Maribor.
  6. We will establish a system for recognising special groups of students and their needs regarding support which will be developed within an appointed working group.
  7. We will strive to recognise individuals in need of support and to support them in the most appropriate manner. We will perform additional activities to support special groups of students. For these purposes, we will carry out free individual counselling, establish a single entry point for students of special groups (Counselling Point) as well as a chat room in which we will answer the questions of students, organise and implement workshops, round tables, meetings, lectures and presentations at which participants will be able to exchange experience, raise awareness of the importance of equal treatment of all students as well as cooperate with secondary school counsellors. The above-mentioned activities will also be available to secondary school students and graduates. Regarding support activities, we will cooperate with institutions that have knowledge from the field of work with young people with special needs.

Pilot project: “Single Entry Point for Employers and Innovative Forms of Cooperation with Students” 

“FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN UNION – NEXTGENERATIONEU”

The aim of the pilot project in the period between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025 is to establish a single virtual entry point of the University of Maribor (UM) for employers and to develop innovative forms of cooperation between students and employers for an effective detection, adaptation and responsiveness of UM to the changing needs of the labour market in selected fields of educational and other activities, taking into account the principles of a green and digital transition to Society 5.0.  

Pilot project activities comprise the following:  

  1. Establishment of a single virtual entry point for employers by implementing comprehensive professional support and counselling students and employers according to the one-stop-shop principle (single entry point). 
  2. Establishment of an information active database of employers and students with the aim of ensuring active networking as a system for keeping records, monitoring, and evaluating work processes between participants. 
  3. A comprehensive analysis of employers’ needs from the point of view of detecting gaps between the acquired and necessary/desired competences, where various analyses will be carried out for detecting gaps and announcing guidelines regarding desired/necessary competences for the employability of students and graduates on the labour market in the future. 
  4. Development of innovative cooperation forms of students, educators, and employers for reducing the gap between the actual and expected knowledge/competences. 
  5. Pilot implementations of innovative cooperation forms of students, educators and employers representing the following: 
  • Implementation of innovative cooperation and solving real problems with elements of interplay between different study and work fields in national and international environment where groups of students from various study fields in cooperation with employers and in form of a shorter involvement in the work environment will be solving demanding professional and work problems of employers from Slovenia and abroad with a focus on digital and green contents. 
  • Implementation of a newly developed learning unit with contents related to the development of competences expected by employers as well as digital and green transition where students will strengthen competences which will be recognised by employers as the key ones for the transition to the labour market, successful performance in the work environment, including competences related to the green transition and digitalization. 
  • Implementation of shorter, innovative trainings for strengthening key competences pertaining to the labour market demands as well as the green and digital transition in which students and graduates of various higher education programmes and other interested individuals (e.g., dropouts, candidates with secondary school education who would like to strengthen their competences) will have the opportunity to participate. This way they will increase their resistance to labour market changes which will contribute to improving competences within the whole society. Individuals who will complete these trainings will obtain micro-credentials based on the comprehensive system of knowing micro-credentials at UM.  

With pilot project activities presented above, we will achieve effects of operational objectives of HE professional educational training from the fields of green and digital transition as well as lifelong learning with micro-credentials.  

By integrating with work environments and promoting the strengthening of competences, within the project, we will strive for stakeholders to recognize the importance of education and to recognize potential professions of the future (also STE(A)M), which will presumably encourage them to additional education and timely completion of studies. With the activities, we will contribute to the objective at the level of the Slovene HE system regarding the inclusion of contents in renewed curricula that will equip students with competences for a green and digital transition to Society 5.0.  

At the strategic level, while strengthening the competences of stakeholders, which will be derived from a comprehensive analysis of employers' needs, in the field of digitalization and green transition in the real working environment as well as the establishment of a single digital entry point for employers, the adaptability, responsiveness and accessibility of these services for stakeholders from Slovenia and internationally will be improved. At the same time, digitalization will consume less energy and raw materials, which will lead to the development of a high-performance digital educational ecosystem. 

Pilot project coordinator is Matej Kosi Hederih (.(JavaScript mora biti omogočen, če si želite ogledati ta naslov)). 

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