Academia College Maribor received a Silver award for the BTEC School of the Year 2020
Maribor, June 30th 2020: Academia College of Short-Cycle Higher Education received a Silver award for its work from Great Britain. The award BTEC School of the Year 2020 was presented by the British Business and Technology Education Council (Pearson BTEC) among 784 schools and colleges from over 60 countries.
˝The British Business and Technology Education Council – Pearson BTEC recognised the efforts and work of our employees, lecturers and instructors from the industry, mentors in companies and the commitment of our students. In more than 25 years Academia has educated and offered career training for more than 70,000 people. Our success is reflected in the success of our students, which we help on their path by encouraging them and offering them opportunities. With this award we have put Maribor and Slovenia on the world map of quality higher professional education.”, said the Managing Director of Academia, Žan Dapčevič, upon receiving the award.
He added: “We believe that in the current situation it is even more important to provide quality education to satisfy the needs of modern industries.”
2nd best College of Short-Cycle Higher Education school in the world 
In May 2017 the school underwent their first standard verification for the implementation of UK Pearson BTEC Higher National Diploma study programs. Only 3 years later they ranked second among 784 schools from 60 countries.
The expert panel recognised examples of good practices and advantages of Academia in: “Close links with the regional industry and tailored implementation of programs for employees, high-quality lecturers who are also active experts in the industry, in six month practical training in regional and international companies, in high-quality student projects and in the strong commitment of the employees to the success of students during and after the study.”
Cindy Rampersaud, Senior Vice President BTEC and Apprenticeship, said: “This year I’ve been over-whelmed by the quality of BTEC Award nominations we received, and I am delighted to celebrate this year’s winners and the achievements of all learners who will be awarded a BTEC this year. Over the past few weeks and months, we’ve seen how the current pandemic has highlighted the critical role of key workers and individuals who are likely to have followed a vocational educational pathway such as BTEC.”
Employability of Academia graduates is 97%, every fifth among them is an entrepreneur
While in 2018 the average employability on the labor market in Slovenia was 90%, the share of Academia graduates who were employed in their professional field and appropriate level of education was as high as 97%. Among them are graduates of business and engineering programs and media production. As many as 19% of these were entrepreneurs in 2018, which means that they were self-employed, founders of a company or were active in a business incubator.
More information about the award can be found in the attached news. Photos and recognition can be accessed at this link.
