The Institute for Financial Research and Analyses is working on an international project that aims to develop soft skills among students.

How to increase the employability of university students through the development of soft skills? How to develop and implement a flexible learning path? These are the questions to be answered by the international ESSENCE project.

Enhance Soft Skills to Nurture Competitiveness and Employability (ESSENCE). In other words, this is a project that focuses on the role of soft skills in stimulating entrepreneurship and increasing the employability of university graduates. Above all, employers pay attention to such skills in the competitive labour market. As a result, based on the research, a set of tools and training content will be developed to enable students to develop soft skills. Moreover, it will be beneficial, because they will become independent professionals. The prepared materials will be published in seven languages: English, Bulgarian, Croatian, Spanish, Latvian, Polish and Italian. Everyone can get them using an open platform with educational resources.

logo of ESSENCE

The leader of the ESSENCE project is the University of Information Technology and Management together with its Institute for Financial Research and Analyses. Furthermore, the initiative is implemented as part of a consortium, in partnership with the following entities:

  • University of Dubrovnik (Croatia)
  • Italian Development Partners IDP SAS Di Giancarlo Costantino (Italy),
  • Institut De Haute Formation Aux Politiques Communautaires (Belgium),
  • Stockholm School of Economics SEE Riga ( Latvia),
  • Ikonomicheski Universitet Varna (Bulgaria)
  • Internet Web Solutions (Spain).

meeting online

„Firstly, in the first quarter of 2021, we have conducted two online meetings with partners. Currently, we are working on the task of mapping the most desirable soft skills among employers in the project partner countries and the EU” – informs Karolina Palimąka from the Institute of Financial Research and Analyses.

The project is being realized under the Erasmus + program with the support of the European Commission.

More information about the project is available on the website of the Institute for Financial Research and Analyses