In a time of rapid change, digital transformation, and growing employer expectations, connecting education with industry is becoming a key element of quality education. The 2025/26 academic year is an excellent example of how strategic cooperation with leading experts and companies can significantly enrich the study process while also bringing concrete benefits to the business environment.
Guest lecturers from practice – more than just a lecture
In many study programmes, students had the opportunity to learn directly from professionals who work daily in real business environments. In the course Marketing / Introduction to Marketing, representatives of Valicon, Atlantic Grupa, and Adacta Fintech shared their experience, including Kristijan Gregorič (Valicon) and Živa Deu (Atlantic Grupa), who introduced students to marketing research and advertising on social media.
In the course Neuromarketing, Barbara Priselac, an independent neuromarketing expert, presented concrete research examples and their application in advertising, while students learned how consumer behavioural patterns are actually measured and interpreted in practice.
Applied assignments: when students create for real companies
A special added value of these collaborations lies in the applied assignments that accompany most guest lectures. In courses such as Media Relations, Digital Marketing, Market Research, and Product and Brand Management, students do not remain only at the level of theory, but actively apply their knowledge to concrete real-life examples.
In the course Media Relations, students collaborated with experts from Perutnina Ptuj, Belupo, the Red Cross Zagreb, and even the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. Alenka Rozman from Perutnina Ptuj, Nataša Šakić (Belupo), and Karmen Uglešić (National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia) presented students with real challenges in crisis and strategic communication, while students developed their own communication approaches and solutions as part of their assignments.
For companies, this means a fresh perspective, new ways of thinking, and potentially useful ideas; for students, it means invaluable experience that prepares them much more effectively for entering the labour market.
Learning for the future: competencies that matter
Collaboration with industry is not limited to marketing and management alone. In the courses Applied and Clinical Psychology and Counselling and Psychotherapy, students became acquainted with the work of clinical psychologists and other experts from UKC Maribor, the Murska Sobota Health Centre, and the Maribor Centre for Hearing and Speech. Guests such as M.A. Borjana Kremžar Jovanović and Danijela Šunjič Egič enriched the study experience with insight into everyday work in demanding professional environments.
Benefits for both sides – a long-term partnership
This type of collaboration goes beyond the traditional guest lecture. It is a partnership that:
enables students to develop practical competencies, self-confidence, and stronger career starting points,
gives companies access to young talent, new ideas, and an opportunity to strengthen their social responsibility,
while ensuring that the educational institution keeps its programmes up to date and closely connected to the labour market.
Numerous agreements concluded with companies prove that this is a long-term and systematic form of cooperation with a clear shared vision: to create knowledge that is practical, relevant, and future-oriented.
