. This is one of the most important conclusions of the `Romania 100 de ani de business’ (`Romania 100 years of business’) conference organized by ZF in Iasi in partnership with Banca Transilvania and audit and advisory firm EY on Wednesday.
“I think the most important thing, historically speaking, that mattered for Romania’s development in the past 100 years has not been the political, but the human factor. (…) It needs time to develop, it needs education and training to have specialized and overspecialized people in certain jobs,” said Patricia Fiterman, CEO of pharmaceutical manufacturer Fiterman Pharma at the conference in Iasi.
“It is important to help the young people develop in a functioning economic framework. Which means they should be able to learn on the job, specialize by experiencing what happens in a company regardless of its business.”
The company she runs has already started a partnership with the School of Pharmacy, she added.
On the other hand, Horatiu Parvulescu, associate partner and growth market leader with audit and advisory firm EY, says that whereas fie years ago a company would send college graduates abroad to get specialized, now it is turning to local colleges.
“We’ve started offering classes about how to devise a business plan. Unfortunately, not many people want to study that in depth and dedicate a portion of their vacation to it. We even pay them to come to these summer schools, like we call them, but we do not require them to stay with us. It’s a solution to get young people specialized. We require of those who do audit and accounting to take ACCA classes, which cost about GBP14,000 per student. we would rather pay the same money to Romanian colleges if they were able to offer the same level of training to our people,” Horatiu Parvulescu said at the conference attended by more than 200 entrepreneurs, managers and bankers.
On the other hand, he said he noticed many teachers and professors in Romania did not keep up with the new technologies on the market, while abroad teachers and professors teach subjects from their line of work.
Omer Tetik, CEO of Banca Transilvania, agrees, saying that a better cooperation between universities and companies is needed, and the curricula in universities should be connected to the realities of today.
Entrepreneurs have already started training people on their own and many of them no longer expect college graduates to have the required training for a specific field.
“Everything starts from education, it is a very important thing for Romania in the future. (…) Every year we hire 10 to 15 agronomists, put them through training and then hire them. We have 80 agronomists, 60 of which under 30 years of age. We must share our experience with the young people and help them,” said Mihai Haraga, owner and chairman of SEMTOP, a seeds producer based in Iasi.
Lucian Grecu, owner of Complex Hotelier Unirea in Iasi, too, believes colleges must work with the young people.
“We must give credit to these young people who come to work for companies. We may be complaining that they don’t know certain things, but they are better at the future technology than our generation was in the past,” the entrepreneur said, adding that his hotel complex always has young people doing internships.
On the other hand, Florin Cardasim, co-founder of Codecamp, one of the biggest IT events, believes informal education is the future.
“I no longer believe in the super formal education; The major universities have trouble attracting and retaining students. I, however, believe in this hands-on education that we can all offer. That means investment. It can’t be done everywhere but it’s worth trying. Information education is highly flexible by nature (…) and can yield fantastic results,” Florin Cardasim said during the conference in Iasi.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)