Se afișează postările cu eticheta Universitatea din Craiova. Afișați toate postările
Se afișează postările cu eticheta Universitatea din Craiova. Afișați toate postările

5 iulie 2017

ONEF 2017 Suceava - Olimpicii FEAA Craiova

Orice activitate desfășurată împreună cu studenții mei este un motiv de bucurie. Anul acesta, am participat la cea de-a 12-a ediție a Olimpiadei Naționale a Economiștilor în Formare organizată de AFER și găzduită de Universitatea Stefan cel Mare din Suceava, Facultatea de Stiinte Economice si Administratie Publica. 

Am participat cu două echipe din partea FEAA Craiova, pe licenta (Anca Elena Niță și Mihaela Popescu cu lucrarea Marketingul digital în instituțiile de învățământ superior) și master (Alexandra Popa și Larisa Mustață cu lucrarea Tinerii NEET - resursă umană cu potențial pentru dezvoltarea durabilă a României). 

Concurența a fost intensă: 32 lucrări pe licență și 21 pe master. 

Olimpiada a avut loc între 28-30 iunie, dar drumul nostru a început pe 27 iunie și s-a încheiat la începutul zilei de 1 iulie. Am făcut 14 ore și jumătate la dus și 12 ore și jumătate la întoarcere, deci un total de 27 ore petrecute alături de studentele mele. La dus, nu am reuși să dorm deloc, dar am avut noroc că fetele adormeau alternativ și aveam mereu partener de discuții. Îmi place să le ascult vorbind despre ele, despre familiile lor, despre bucuriile sau grijile lor. Mă bucur că au încredere în mine și vreau să îi felicit pe părinții lor pentru că au crescut copii minunați. 

Am ajuns în gara din Suceava, unde ne-a așteptat dl profesor Mihai Popescu, împreună cu un student, cărora le mulțumim. Astfel, am ajuns mai repede în campus, pentru că tot ce voiam să văd era patul, având în vedere că eram trează de 25 de ore. Vreau să mulțumesc organizatorilor pentru condițiile extraordinare de cazare și masă din campus. Am rămas impresionată de nivelul ridicat de dezvoltare și de investițiile realizate la Suceava.

După prânz, am mers să ne plimbăm prin Suceava și să vizităm Cetatea de Scaun a Sucevei (12 lei pentru adulți) și Muzeul Satului Bucovinean, care mi-a plăcut foarte mult și mi-a amintit de Andreea Geantă și de clipul realizat la Școala de Vară AFER din 2015. Andreea a obținut Marele Premiu la olimpiada din acel an, pe secțiunea Marketing, impreună cu colega ei, Diana. Felicitări, Andreea, pentru nota 10 de la susținerea disertației și pentru cei 5 ani frumoși la FEAA. 


A fost frumos, pentru că am fost în compania fetelor, iar Anca a fost un ghid minunat. Ea a revenit la Suceava, după ce, în 2016, a fost la Scoala de Vară acolo. Am făcut poze, fetele au sărit, s-au luat în brațe, am râs și m-am lăsat purtată de veselia lor.



A doua zi, a urmat deschiderea și susținerea lucrărilor. Am fost cu fetele la master, apoi am mers să le susținem și pe Anca și Mihaela la licență. Mă bucur că fetele au pus întrebări și au răspuns bine întrebărilor primite de la colegii de competiție. S-au încadrat în timp, au avut o susținere logică și coerentă. Nu știu care a fost punctajul lor, pentru că acesta nu este public (ceea ce consider că ar trebui schimbat), dar, pot să le spun că s-au descurcat minunat. Au abordat teme de impact și de actualitate. Alexa si Larisa, la master, au abordat o problemă spinoasă, care ne doare și ar trebui să ne doară, aceea a tinerilor NEET (not in employment, education or training).
Alexandra are si o experienta ca lucrator de tineret, deoarece, de 4 ani, este voluntar în cadrul Salvati Copiii. Avem nevoie de tineri care să faca ceva pentru comunitate și care să abordeze tematici importante pentru societate. Felicitari, fetelor!

La licenta, Mihaela si Anca s-au remarcat, intrand in memoria presedintelui din comisia de jurizare. Anca are un talent de a vorbi în public, de a interactiona cu oamenii și s-a vazut asta. Sunt mandra de voi! Ma bucur ca Mihaela, studenta in primul an, a reusit sa treaca de emotii si ma bucur ca cele doua prezentari anterioare (de la cercul de Marketing si de la concursul Cea mai buna idee de afaceri) te-au ajutat sa iti stapanesti emotiile.

După o zi plină și o cină unde am savurat inghetata Betty Ice și bere Bermas, la ele acasă, ca sa zic asa, am plecat să ne plimbam.


Fetele au adoptat-o si pe Elena Valentina, o studenta de la Galati, care, afland ca suntem din Craiova, s-a lipit de grupul nostru, dorind sa vina si ea in Craiova. A fost o companie frumoasa si ma bucur ca oltencele sunt mereu prietenoase. Au fost atat de prietenoase, încat au imbratisat-o pe dna de la cantina, ca sa isi ia la revedere. Foarte dragut din partea lor!

Frante de oboseala, am mai mers un pic la fete in camera, sa mai vorbim de una-alta.


A doua zi, a urmat premierea la foc rapid, pentru ca majoritatea aveam tren la 12.30. Studentele de la master au luat Premiul cu destinatie, pentru originalitate, in valoare de 700 lei și posibilitatea de a participa la Scoala de Vara de la Suceava, din luna iulie, masa si cazarea fiind asigurate. Felicitari, fetelor!

La sectiunea licenta, inaintea anuntarii premiilor, dna presedinte a comisiei de jurizare a tinut sa precizeze ca a fost impresionata sa traiasca o interactiune cu una dintre concurente, care, in timpul prezentarii, i-a adresat niste intrebari. Era vorba de Anca Niță de la FEAA Craiova. Nu a fost si premiu, nu ii stiu punctajul Ancai, pentru ca acestea nu se fac publice, dar stiu ca fetele au ramas in memoria juriului, s-au descurcat extraordinar la sustinere, au raspuns cu brio la intrebari si nu au depasit timpul alocat, ca alti concurenti. Incurcate sunt caile cui o fi ... :)

Felicitari si voua, fetelor, pentru ca sunteti extraordinare! Nu trebuie sa va spuna nimeni cat potential aveti, credeti in el si dezvoltati-l! M-a pus pe ganduri Anca atunci cand, revenite acasa, am condus-o pana la bloc. Mi-a spus ceva de genul: din fiecare experienta inveti, dar din asta, nu stiu ce sa invat. 

Ca profesor, imi recunosc si eu neputinta si pot doar sa spun ca ne-am facut prieteni, ne-am plimbat, am devenit si mai prietene noi intre noi, ne-am ales cu imbratisarile Larisei, care le imparte doar cand nu e la scoala :), cu aprecierile unui juriu, cu o diploma, fie ea de participare sau pentru premiu, cu un ou simbolic, specific Bucovinei (multumesc Ancai pt ca ca mi l-a oferit, deoarece a zis ca mai are unul), cu plimbari in care profa si studentele se tin de mana, precum copiii, cu amintirea bancurilor seci din tren și cu oamenii care se uitau la noi, cu o studenta din Galati si povestea despre catelul ei (succes Elena la disertatie) ...


Anca, Mihaela, Alexa si Larisa, va multumesc pentru prietenia voastra, pentru clipele frumoase petrecute impreuna (cele 27 ore pe tren ar fi fost un cosmar daca nu aveam compania voastra), pentru implicarea, devotamentul, pasiunea voastra pentru proiectele realizate. Aveti incredere in voi, in potentialul vostru, in visurile voastre! Uneori castigi, alteori inveti ... inveti ca uneori trebuie sa accepti ca nu toate sunt cum trebuie sa fie, inveti sa apreciezi lucrurile marunte, mai pretioase decat premiile, inveti sa apreciezi timpul petrecut alaturi de oameni minunati.



9 aprilie 2016

FEAA Craiova wins Simformer Business Cup 2016 in both Leagues


What a day, what a lovely day!

Those who saw Mad Max: Fury Road know what I am talking about :)



As you probably remember from the article I wrote a few days ago, April 8 was the day for the second stage of Simformer Business Cup 2016. So, a very expected day by me and my students. 

From the interview for Simformer

 My motto for my students is something like this: You are winners, no matter what. Maybe some colleagues in teaching area disagree with me, but in my opinion, it is more important to convince your students that they are valuable even if they lose a contest or fail to get higher grades or something similar.

I never push my students do things they do not like or things just for a recognition. I believe in them and social media helped me a lot to coach them. Friendship is more important than anything. And I am very grateful that my students became my friends and for some of them I succeded to be a mentor. These are not my words, but sincere appreciations from the students that competed in Simformer BusinessCup 2016.

So, Simformer team offered us an opportunity to really create a connection between theory and practice, but also to learn how to manage a team. And even if we were 8 teams in Pro League and 5 teams in Amateur League, I am not wrong if I say that we were ONE big team. I changed a few words with Denis, the guy from the second position in the Pro League and I really appreciate him and congratulate him for having such wonderful results by himself and not in a team. 

From the interview for Simformer


But working in a team is better, you create strong connections, make friends and you cannot know what could happen, maybe you decide to create a real business with your team mates after that.
I started my April 8 day with some courses (duty first), but I gave my personal phone number to the contestants in order to be reachable for them. The company given to them was one in distress so our emotions climbed a mountain that day :) They also had only 8 hours to stabilize their business, not 30 like in the first stage. They were relieved because 30 hours was indeed very long, but in 8 hours (meaning 2 months in the game), the competition became more aggressive.

As Minvydas told us in the Live sessions they had on Youtube, small and steady businesses are not enough if your goal is to win the contest, not just survive. I also was a contestant in the simulation, but my goal was only to become familiar with the mechanics of the game and be able to offer them my advice. I have to recognize that my main task was to focus on their enthusiasm so I tried to boost their energy tagging them in different post, pictures, on different groups, in order to show them that I really appreciate their effort, their time and their dedication. 



It did not matter their place in the game for me, I really wanted to make them understand it is more important what you gain from the contest, in terms of friendship, self-control, organization, connecting the theory with the practice, working under pressure and also trying to have some fun at the same time. 

First 4-5 hours were ok but I noticed that the team of Diana Bobaru (Diana, Adi Voicu, Cristina Raicu, Gabi Pungaru, Gabi Tudor and Ionut Renghea) had a different strategy. They expanded their activities a lot, restaurants, clothes, food, moto stores. Their expenses were very high because of their investments so the losses in the first half of the contest were very important. 



In the second part of the contest, my emotions became higher and higher. Usually, my blood pressure is very low but I think it grew and normalized :) I watched all the live sessions held by Minvydas (I think they were 16) so my activity was something like this: calls from my students, private messages on Facebook with captures from the simulation (especially from those in the Amateur League), watching Minvydas, posting on Facebook about the contest and keeping people informed, creating a hype for the event and keeping my students’ motivation and energy up. 
This is why the game is even funny, not only callenging :)


Yeah, sometimes you need music when working :)


Restaurants are good :)

I hope I managed it well because I really haven’t had a free minute. During the last 2-3 hours, Diana Corporation started to show some profits and higher revenues and that was the moment I understood that the battle was given between them and Denis (ASEM Wave).
The contest rules stated that there were four prizes, one for each category: Performance, Revenues, Profits and Assets. The difference between Diana Corporation (representing students from FEAA Craiova) and ASEM Wave (Denis) was not that big, so my heart started to beat faster :)

18 o’clock came and the end of the contest too. In top 10, our faculty had 5 teams (including me). I think this is a great achievement for the faculty and our university. And I want to mention here the teams Craiova Fighters (Lavinia Balan and her team mates), Ciobanu International (Adina Ciobanu and her colleagues), Brave Corporation (Silvia Neamtu and her team mates).
Love that yellow! :) (1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 16, 22 are from FEAA Craiova, University of Craiova)

 Of course, Diana Corporation won the contest, but my reaction was like: What a wonderful game! What a day, what a lovely day! They were first for all four categories: Profit, Revenues, Assets and Overall Performance. They played the game in different conditions, using a phone, talking with me while driving, giving them a small advice before the end of the contest, but they won!
Me and the winning team

Me and Andree-Corina International

Me and the girls from Brave Corporation! We are brave girls here, at FEAA Craiova :)

In top 10 of Amateur League, we had two teams from five and one of them - that of Catalin Bodae (UCVCompany) succeeded to qualify for the highest position in Assets category. Catalin is like a Pro in the Amateur League because his team and also the team of Alina Tirei (Alina-Maria Limited) were contestants in the first stage of Simformer Business Cup. So their experience helped them to maintain in this ranking.

Amateur League and we have a winner, UCV represented by C. Bodae

I am so proud of you, my dear students, I learned a lot from you: 

I learned that most of the time, you need a friend and not a rigid teacher

I learned that you become more enthusiast, energetic and do wonderful things when you are encouraged

I learned that you can make me the happiest person 

I learned that you raised you interest for projects outside school, because of me. You keep telling me this so it must be true :)

I learned that social media (Facebook mainly) makes miracles in teaching. We organized our activity on a Facebook group and we also entered Simformer group for more info on the contest. 

I learned that I am better because of you.

So, thank you for all these and I address this message to all my students (I also want to mention here the guys from the first year who attended the contest because they saw my enthusiasm: Andreea and Beatrice in Pro League and Andrada, Lali, Vali in Amateur League). 

Thank you for giving me a purpose! I am very proud of you and grateful that I had the honor to work with such wonderful kids. 

I also want to mention here Simformer guys who organized very well the activity of Simformer Business Cup and I want to express my gratitude and what are the things I learned from them:

I learned from AdelinaJensen that it is very important to take the initiative and contact people and use LinkedIn more often.

I learned from Minvydas that using multiple channels for communication is better :) For example, I felt an improvement in the second stage with the live sessions on YouTube, comparing with the first stage where it was only a chat. But I have nice memories with the day I entered the chat on 5th March. 

I learned from Danas that it is important to be flexible in business and also friendly.
From Anton, I learned that it is important to create the hype when things are still hot or warm. 

I learned how to translate from Russian with the help of Facebook and also of Silvia Neamtu, a student in the contest (Brave Corporation). 

At the end of this contest, I hope Simformer guys will organize the event every year and they can be sure that I spread the words with a lot of posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, my blog, a journal of students, a marketing club I organize, posts on the website of our faculty and also attending two shows at a local TV station. 

I also know that sharing means caring, so I do all these because I appreciate the work you do there, your simulation is very challenging, comparing to others and most important it is also friendly. Your servers did not have problems or if they had, the problems were rapidly solved, the communication was also very important. 

I want to wish Happy Birhday to two of my students: Catalin Bodae (his birthday was on 5th April) and Andreea Maracine (hers was yesterday, during the final stage). You are winners and I am proud of you!

And this is not all :) Simformer also has a Simformer Best Reporter Competition and my students registered there too with the following articles:

4. Brave Corporation, in english and in russian
5. Puiu Corporation (this is just me, but I want to be lost among my students :)
7. UCV 

Smile and shine, wherever you are! 





5 aprilie 2016

Simformer Business Cup 2016 through the eyes of a professor

The day I found out about Simformer Business Cup was a magic day :) I do not usually enter LinkedIn but that day I entered and I saw a message from Adelina Jensen, a representative of Simformer. She announced me about the opportunity to apply for a contest on business simulations. I was really happy because I searched all the Internet to find a business game for my students. 
I found out at the end of February and the contest was starting at the beginning of March. So, I did not have much time to convince my students to register to the contest, create their teams and also a Facebook page for their virtual company. 
I was very grateful that my students were enthusiast and dynamic. They told me the game was becomming addicting, but in a good way. They loved it. 

One of my students (Lavinia Elena Balan) wrote an article for a local paper of students at Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Craiova, Romania - Simformer Experience (in Romanian). She said she waited Simformer Business Cup even more than she ever expected Santa Claus. 

Silvia Neamtu, another student: The subject of business simulations is a practical one and I think we were all very involved in the contest, very interested and started a lot of debates. We finally made something practical, useful and closer to the reality. 

We talked about Simformer at a local marketing club organized by me in March and two teams (the team placed on the second position in the contest and another one with two students in the first year) were speakers there.
The team of Diana Bobaru was on the second position in the first stage. In the pic, you can see three members of the team: Cristina Raicu, Gabi Pungari and Gabi Tudor. 


The team of Diana Bobaru and her team mates Cristina, Gabriela, Gabriel and Adrian
Me (middle) and the team of two students in the first year, Andreea Maracine and Beatrice Iovu, two enthusiast girls

Me and the girls from Brave Corporation, Silvia Neamtu, Roxana Mihai, Daniela Rudeanu
We were also invited at local television TeleU Craiova, where we talked about this amazing contest and its advantages for students. The show was in Romanian and I was accompanied by Andreea Maracine and Diana Bobaru.

For me, the experience was very intense because the first stage lasted 30 hours and I stayed connected for my students because I was receiving lots of messages in which they needed my advice or simply some encouragement. I created a Facebook group on Business Simulations, we also talked there and at some point, when I realized they should be tired, I sent them some links with some happy music, like these ones:



I also attended the contest because I wanted to be able to help them. Being a participant was the only way to understand the contest and help them, offering some suggestions. 
I coordinated 9 teams (40-45 students) and 7 of them qualified for the Professional League. In the second stage, the number of teams will be higher, because news spread rapidly and now, a lot of students in the first year will compete for the Amateur League.
They learn how to manage a business, they have employees and they have to pay them or send them for training, they can invest in marketing campaigns and so on. A lot of practical things, different than just reading/learning theory.

Badges got by the team of Lavinia Balan

Picture from the simulation of Lavinia Balan

Picture from the simulation of Lavinia Balan

But being able to work and compete in teams helped them to communicate better, to make an effort and coordinate their activities in the game, to socialize more and very important and touching for me they became friends of mine. I met them at the end of February but due to this contest, we became friends. They told me I motivated them but they also motivated me and made me appreciate more my profession.

I really appreciate the kind words they expressed for me, in private or even in their articles for the Best Reporter Competition. They are great kids, all of them, smart and passionate. I am very proud of them and I am grateful for the efforts they put in the contest, for their time and energy.
I also thank Adelina Jensen for telling me about this opportunity, Minvydas Latauskas and Danas for preparing an offer for the faculty.

I am proud that from 82 teams in the first stage (400 participants), 33 of them qualified for the second stage and FEAA Craiova (our faculty) has 8 teams (7 teams with students and me). So, we are almost 25% of the finalists. This is an honour for us and for the university we belong to - University of Craiova.