The Apple of Quality awards (Jabolka kakovosti) are presented by Cmepius (the Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and European Educational and Training Programmes) and the Ministry of Education of Republic of Slovenia for the most outstanding international cooperation projects. The award-winning international projects stand out in terms of their impact on the professional development of professors, networking and team building, and the development of the institutions participating in the projects. In addition, the projects also have a potential impact on the education system in Slovenia.
In its justification for awarding the Apple of Quality to the Simulation of Sustainable International Business (SOS IB) project, the Commission stated: »In order to bridge the gap between students with international experience and those without, the project team has developed case studies, an online [platform for] simulation of business in an international environment and a mobile game through which students learn about working in an international environment. The simulation and game are based on real challenges of international business and are multidisciplinary, as they go beyond accounting or business. […] Students are exposed to issues of sustainability, legal aspects, etc. This pedagogical approach enables constructive cooperation between students and professors around the world in multiple business sectors, allowing non-mobile students to acquire intercultural competencies in their home environment, which are highly sought after in the digital and multicultural business environment. The added value of SOS IB is thus reflected in its transnational character and strong potential for transferability to other areas and economic sectors.«
The core project team, which ran from 2021 to 2024, included Darinka Kamenšek, Nataša Pustotnik, Mojca Mayr, and Barbara Drole from VŠR College of Accounting and Finance (Slovenia), Nedka Dimitrova, Diyan Dimov, Desislava Sariyska, and Christina Armutlieva from VUM – Varna University of Management (Bulgaria), Martina Herceg Rendeli, Jasna Vuk, and Ante Vidović from Veleučilište RRiF (Croatia), and Nikolina Babić, Nikolina Markota Vukić, and Zoran Đekić from IDOP – The Croatian Institute for Corporate Social Responsibility (Croatia).
We are extremely pleased and honored to receive the award, and would like to sincerely thank our project partners, their core teams and supporting personnel. Thank you for your motivation, dedication, and in-depth cooperation. We would also like to express our deep gratitude to all the students who participated in testing the project results. We hope that future generations will also find them exciting and useful for their studies.
The project S.O.S. International Business was co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme, Key Action 2: Cooperation Partnerships. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
