NEWS
WHAT IC4HEDS IS ABOUT

Project Intensive Courses for Higher Education Students (further on IC4HEDS) will bring students closer to current business reality and labour market needs by teaching them about new technologies, that are rapidly becoming an integral part of every business. We will create courses about Industry 4.0 and digital transformation and give students an opportunity to get better prepared for their future career and at the same time enterprises will get employees with relevant and up-to-date knowledge. This project is a humble beginning in the path of transformation of the way we learn and work, but we can say for sure it is only the beginning.
IC4HEDS is co-financed in scope of Interreg V-A Hungary-Croatia Co-operation Programme 2014-2020. Partnership composed of 2 higher education institutions and 2 business support organizations from Croatia and Hungary will work on building stronger connections between academic community, business support organizations and private sector.
Faculty of organization and informatics University of Zagreb (FOI) and University of Pannonia (UP) together with Technology-innovation centre Međimurje ltd. (TICM) and Nagykanizsa business incubator (NKGV) will develop and implement 2 joint intensive learning programmes for students from both side of the border. When courses are developed, Digital transformation course will become part of the curriculum at FOI and Industry 4.0 will be part of the curriculum at UP.
The courses will last 35 to 50 hours which includes a self-guided preparation/introduction phase by means of on-line material which will be developed specifically for the programmes. After the preparation phase, each student will attend face to face part of the programme, which includes lectures/excercises at FOI and UP premises and workshops organized by TICM and NKGV. The programmes will be certified by FOI and UP and students who successfully complete them will earn ECTS points.
Intensive learning programmes are the key activity this project revolves around but number of other supporting activities will be implemented simultaneously.
Project officially started in August 2020 and will last until March 2022. To conduct all the planned activities and achieve all the objectives we have available a budget of 211 799,95 euros, from which 180 029,94 euros are EU contribution from European regional development fund.

PARTNERS UNITED IN ACHIEVING THIS MISSION

Technology Innovation Centre Medimurje Ltd. (TICM) as lead beneficiary.
TICM is a business incubator founded in 2009. The incubator operates in three buildings, boasting 3600 m2. TICM supported regional ICT scene from its very beginnings. More than 70 companies have gone through the incubation process in TICM since its establishment and 52 entities are currently incubated. TICM is a community of experts and entrepreneurs, companies, associations and institutions and provides services for business idea realization through incubation, consultation and education.

University of Zagreb, Faculty of organization and informatics (FOI)
Established in 1962, the Faculty of Organization and Informatics is an institution that reaches back more than half a century. Over the decades, the Faculty has been providing education to future experts in the field of information sciences and technologies, economics, organization, communication and other related fields. It is one of the constituent units of University of Zagreb, located in the northern part of Croatia, in the very heart of the beautiful city of Varaždin.

University of Pannonia (UP)t
University of Pannonia, headquartered in Veszprém, is operating in the picturesque cities on the lands of the former Roman province, Pannonia. 5 faculties of the university offer high quality education supported by cutting edge research activity and student friendly environment. In order to meet the needs of the labour market, our activities are carried out in close cooperation with the regional industrial partners and local governments. Based on the professional achievements of our faculty staff and the internationally recognized R&D results, the University of Pannonia is ranked among the best Hungarian universities. The degree obtained at their University is acknowledged and valuable certificate providing a solid basis for successful career perspectives.

Nagykanizsa Asset Management Plc.
The Municipality of Nagykanizsa established an Incubator and Innovation Centre inside the area of the Industrial Park. The area of the incubator expands on over 2496 m2 and it can incubate approximately 30 enterprises. They offer advantageous business environment for low cost. They help enterprises to reach the market, they foster the entrepreneurial environment and support the territorial economy, they facilitate cooperation between enterprises, give assistance to enterprises that are in the initial phase of launching a business, help enterprises to bridge the problems occurring due to the lack of capital and insufficient knowledge in economics.
IMPORTANT TASKS THAT AWAIT US
2 Joint intensive learning courses
2 Joint intensive learning courses are to be developed and launched. FOI is responsible, with the help from other partners, to develop the course about digital transformation and include it in its curriculum and UP is responsible, also with assistance from all the other partners, to develop and include in its curriculum the course about Industry 4.0. The courses will comprise on-line learning elements (Moodle) and face-to-face lectures, seminars and workshops.


Programme
The programme and content creation will start immediately after the project kicks off and will last for 8 months. During the preparation period, students (and other stakeholders) from both universities will be informed of the courses and the benefits they can gain by attending them. Once the courses are launched, four groups of min. 10 students will join them during the rest of the project implementation period. Two of the groups will join the courses at UP and two groups at FOI. In addition to that, both of the faculties will exchange the study programmes so that students from both faculties can benefit from both programmes. As it was already mentioned, programmes will be certified by FOI and UP and students who successfully complete them will earn ECTS points.
Partners
Partners will, if possible considering the current situation with SARS-COV-2 virus, attend a study trip outside of the programme area to an institution that has already successfully implemented the above-mentioned learning model with the goal of best-practice transfer. The trip will be organized before intensive learning programmes are developed so partners can use the knowledge they gathered during the study trip in the development process.


Students
Students attending the courses will have the opportunity to go on a 2-day study trip in order to boost the cross-border aspect of the project. The trip will include a workshop organised by the incubator on one day, and visits to various institutions (faculties, incubators, etc.) on the next. For example, as a part of the study programme, first group of students from FOI will make a study trip to Nagykanizsa and attend the organised activities together with students from PE. The same model will be used with each group throughout the project (and even after its ending with new groups). This will add to the cross-border aspect of the project as well as motivate students to learn about the common cultural heritage of the cross-border area. For example, during the study visit to Croatia, students will visit Medimurje Palace of Tourism, which has been refurbished in scope of project “Revitalisation of cultural heritage into tourism attractions in Međimurje and Letenye area” from the first call of the Programme.
Business incubators
Business incubators from both side of the border will organize minimum 3 employabilty related workshops for students attending the courses, with private sector members and experts from various institutions lecturing the workshops. The topics will be highly relevant to the courses and students will be encouraged to attend them.

Contact
TEL: +385 (0)40 499 405EMAIL: info@ticm.hr
URL: https://www.ticm.hr
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TICMedjimurje/
Address
TEHNOLOŠKO-INOVACIJSKI CENTAR MEĐIMURJE d.o.o.Ulica bana Josipa Jelačića 22/b
HR-40000 Čakovec