Specialist Master’s Professional Study of Financial Management at the Baltazar Zaprešić Polytechnic

In today’s world of increasing structural and procedural complexity and business dynamics, financial knowledge and competencies have become a ‘conditio sine qua non’ for the success and vitality of any economic entity. Well ‘equipped’ specialists in the field of financial management are undoubtedly an indispensable and desirable human resource without which there can be no creation of added economic value.

We spoke with Dr. Ivona Santini, the head of the Financial Management study program at the Baltazar Zaprešić Polytechnic, about the importance of financial knowledge in today’s world and the role of higher education institutions in developing such competencies.

How does the Financial Management study program at the Baltazar Polytechnic differ from other programs with similar content, and what is its specificity?

Unlike other comparable study programs, we educate a ‘pure’ profile of a financial manager because we believe that this is the best way not only to position the learning outcomes and competencies of our study program in the labor market but also the best way to adapt to the needs of the labor market. The profile of a financial manager is therefore ‘designed’ so that he is primarily an economic expert trained to make business decisions in the sphere of achieving long-term economic sustainability through managing economic profit, but he is also a financial specialist trained to make financial decisions in the sphere of achieving long-term financial stability through managing the risks of monetizing economic profit. Since in practice, managing economic profit and managing the risks of monetizing economic profit are de facto inseparable (they influence each other), the specificity of our study program is reflected in the fact that the duality between economic profit and its monetization is explained at the theoretical – cognitive level, while at the implementation level, a set of decision-making tools is applied in the sphere of managing the risks of monetizing economic profit.

What has been the developmental path of the Financial Management study program?

In order to profile our study program as effectively as possible, its developmental path has predominantly followed three directions. First, renowned experts from the academic community have been involved in the implementation of the curriculum to contribute to the development of the theoretical – cognitive level of the financial manager profile. Then, renowned practitioners and our employed alumni students have been included in the implementation of the curriculum to contribute to the development of the implementation level of the financial manager profile. Finally, a specialized practice has been introduced into the curriculum according to the concept of interdisciplinary ‘flipped classrooms’.

What are ‘flipped classrooms’?

We are very proud that we have developed and introduced specialized practice into the teaching process according to the concept of interdisciplinary ‘flipped classrooms’. They are designed to ensure the concrete application of acquired specialized knowledge and skills related to the profile of a financial manager through simulating specific cases from practice. The methodological approach was based on an interdisciplinary approach that integrates specific foundations and decision-making tools from the fields of finance, accounting, business management information systems, and foreign language tailored to the needs of profiling a financial manager. The intention of applying the interdisciplinary approach was to ensure the achievement of a synergistic effect through contributing to the development of comparative advantages of students in the labor market and their ‘encouragement’ in the sphere of desired further personal professional and educational profiling.

Do you have data on the employability of students after completing the Financial Management study?

Although systematic work is being done to improve the alumni employment tracking system at the Baltazar Polytechnic, it is still not possible to say precisely how much our students’ acquired diploma has helped them in employment and/or advancement in business functions. However, as the head of the program, I regularly maintain contact with a group of our alumni students, and a large majority of these students, nearly 90%, work in the private business sector, and of those nearly 90% of students, almost 60% work in jobs closely related to the profile of the financial manager for which we educated them. Additionally, the latest preliminary research within our study program has shown that most of our students have no problems when it comes to employment and/or advancement in jobs closely related to the profile for which we educated them. Perhaps the most beautiful examples of our students’ employment are those that resulted from specialized interdisciplinary ‘flipped classrooms’ that successfully connected their practitioners and our students who were seeking their first job.

Which Financial Management students would you highlight as having distinguished themselves through their work and/or creativity?

It is extremely difficult to single anyone out as all our students are valuable and modest. Beautiful examples confirming the quality of the learning outcomes and competencies of our study program are certainly the positively recognized diplomas at the Master’s level, for example, in Canada. Ultimately, a large number of our students participate in the Erasmus + program, which is of great importance not only for our study program but for our Polytechnic as a whole.

What are the future development plans for the Financial Management study program?

In conclusion, I can say that we are on the right path regarding the theoretical – cognitive level of the FM profile, as well as regarding its implementation level. However, we certainly need to work deeper and broader on devising ways to measure the acceptability of the learning outcomes and competencies of our study program from the practice’s perspective. I sincerely hope that this issue will be resolved through the implementation of the Croatian Qualifications Framework. Likewise, we need to work deeper and broader on interaction with the Croatian economy and the real needs of the labor market.

In this sense, we plan to establish and implement the following mechanisms that will ensure concrete feedback from practice:

(1) organize panel meetings where alumni students with successful careers will discuss their studies, employment, and other aspects of their jobs;

(2) organize panel meetings with entrepreneurs to identify the real needs of the economy in the sphere of necessary knowledge and skills in order to adapt the formal and content aspects of the study program to the long-term economic policy;

(3) organize professional workshops for teachers, alumni, current students, and representatives of the economy for the purpose of profiling the profession of financial manager.

With these mechanisms, we undoubtedly want to determine how useful the acquired specialized knowledge and skills are for students, both in their daily work and in the context of their professional advancement. Furthermore, we want to check how satisfied employers are with the acquired specialized knowledge and skills, especially in the case of sponsoring and/or financing the professional development of their employees who are participants in the study program. Ultimately, these mechanisms would certainly provide useful information necessary for planning further development and improvement of the study program, of course, in accordance with the established development strategy of the Baltazar Polytechnic.