On 12 October this year, the final event of PROFDAY, the largest event uniting colleges in Lithuania, took place. Its aim is to help young people understand the inner workings of businesses. As many as 114 finalists from 15 Lithuanian colleges tackled a challenging business situation and the best of them were awarded special prizes.

The students, who came to the event from different parts of Lithuania, solved a complex money transfer situation of a large company working in the financial sector and looked for a solution to efficiently design an ordering platform for a medical logistics company. The students also had to develop a social responsibility action plan and budget for a multinational company, evaluate a job interview and suggest how to improve it, and test a personal finance management situation with a game developed by an Estonian start-up.

Winners will go to the European Parliament

“This period is distinguished from others by the speed of technological change, political developments and the abundance of information. Companies are becoming increasingly specialised, the nature and rhythm of their activities vary greatly, and corporate culture is particularly strong when it comes to the need to retain talent. In this context, one of the most important decisions that young people have to make is to choose a way to fulfil themselves. So by bringing colleges together, we are organising a special opportunity for them to meet representatives of companies in different sectors and understand the peculiarities of their activities”, says Lina Mačernienė, the author of the initiative.

“There are two approaches to workplace presence. One is that company managers show what to do and how to do it, and the other is that people co-create processes and solve problems. In the first case, theoretical education is important to convey the way the company works, while in the second case, it is important for people to see themselves as active participants in the processes. Education then becomes multifaceted, dynamic, experiential and allows for personal initiative. We are happy that PROFADIENIS is a place for young people to come together. During the event, participants learn from real situations. They are all designed to give students an insight into the entire business cycle of a company: finance, production, HR and innovation,” says Arūnas Badaras, Head of Private Clients Group at AB SEB Bank.

Vilnius College of Technology and Design has the highest score in the 2023 event and was rewarded with a trip to the European Parliament! The team from the Faculty of Business Management of Vilnius College won in the Social Responsibility category, Alytus College won in the Digital Logistics category and the Lithuanian Business College won in the Leadership category. The students of SMK Graduate School won two awards: the team from Kaunas department won in the finance category, and the team from Vilnius department won in the customer service category.

The project organiser is Public Institution PROFAT. Project partners: AB SEB bankas, „Western Union Processing Lithuania“, UAB „Cencora“, UAB „Girteka Logistics“, AB „Rokiškio sūris“, Europos Parlamento biuras, UAB „Emplonet“, Petras Auštrevičius.