Competencies in Use and Exploitation: A Proposed Research Methodology

AbstractThe proposed methodology compares employers’ professional competencies development with the competencies gained during their education process (developed by curricula programs in universities) that provide specific qualification. The balance refers to the professional competencies comparison that is out-puts for the education providers and in-put for the employer organization (competencies balance card and profile design). The research motivation lies on: (a) harmonization and adaptation of the universities curricula programs to the real organizations specific needs, and vice-versa, (b) satisfying the needs of real organizations development based on human resources advanced competencies. A case study will demonstrate the proposed methodology effectiveness

Corporate Development with Agile Business Process Modeling as a Key Success Factor

AbstractBusiness processes represent an important core component of the company's activities and should be therefore more considerate. It takes a long time until the processes modeled down to the smallest detail, analyzed and designed. When these steps have been completed, often the process will not be adapted. Here would be an agile approach interesting to be flexible on trends and enterprise decisions which will have any dependencies to the processes. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to develop a holistic approach, in which the advantages of the previous models can be optimally used and the current challenges such as the desired agility can be included. The research methodology used in the investigation consists of a combination of methods and tools of Business Process Management (BPM) and agile management. The aim of the research is to evaluate whether these methods can contribute positively to the process modeling improvement in the framework of the Enterprise Information System. The finding of this research consists of a holistic model for acting agile within BPM. This allows companies to act flexible to adapt or implement enterprise processes. The resulting added value can be seen in the model for flexible implementation with regular controlling which are set apart from the previous rigid waterfall models

A Proposed Tool for Managing Intellectual Capital in Small and Medium Size Enterprises

AbstractIn the actual stage of Knowledge Era, enterprises need to gain and maintain their competitive advantage and one of the feasible ways is through their intellectual capital management. This approach supposes a great effort from the middle and low level managers in providing timely information and knowledge about the company's processes and results (a big amount of data, information and knowledge have to be stored and combined in order to calculate related indicators for organizational performance). Another challenging problem of the intellectual capital management is related to the control and better valorised of organization intangible assets that generate added value for the company. This is the context and motivation of the present article though which we aim to debate the problem of intellectual capital management by the concepts state-of-the-art that will underline and present the intellectual capital evaluation tools. Based on the literature review, there will be proposed a new tool and an associated methodology for the intellectual capital evaluation. A case study will provide arguments for the validity of the proposed methodology. Finally, some conclusions and remarks will be made in order to underline the originality of the research done and the future work that should be developed

Exploiting multimedia technologies in education, research, and university-community projects

The pandemic has led to the acceleration of the digital transformation of all university activity. Some users/university staff were better prepared for this, but others need support and training in the development of digital skills. Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of digitized activities (administrative, educational, research, university marketing, communication, and community involvement, with business or industrial partners) require increasing concerns for the university's human resources to have the necessary knowledge of operation. Moreover, our students are from generation Z, Millennials and can be stimulated in learning, interaction, and communication with the help of digital means, multimedia technologies and social media. We are witnessing a radical change in the way communication takes place in universities and within its extended community, with its various stakeholders. In this dynamic context we have built and present the way to extend the digital/multimedia competencies of university staff (administrative, teaching, research staff, etc.) with the support of an international community associated with the Erasmus+ project: “Multimedia Competencies for University Staff to Empower University - Community Collaborations” (2020-1-RO01- KA203-080399)

Points of intersection between sustainability and project management

The goal of this paper is to explore the dimension of sustainability in project management through a systematic literature review; more specifically, the article aims at reviewing the approaches to ensure the performance of urban projects performance targeting sustainable objectives. An attempt to explore the way the two fields intersect by means of exchanging both strengths: project management know-how areas, on the one hand, and sustainability tools, a win–win for improving the efficiency of implementing sustenability in every project. The research objective is to define concepts, terminology and conceptual clarifications on the management of sustainable urban development projects, the bibliographic reference, which will present the historical evolution and the current state of knowledge in the field (theories, studies and relationships, good practices, definitions). The scope of this effort is to dive into the maze of a literature review in order to identify the link between project management and sustainability and the transition paved by unique and challenging experiences which shifts towards a green and inclusive future

A Knowledge Management Approach for The University-industry Collaboration in Open Innovation

AbstractIn the knowledge-based society, universities have re-considered the traditional academic roles, and placed them in a broader context as part of its new role in promoting innovation. Based on existing models there has been developed a framework to analyze how universities support their implication and contribution to local economic development. The proposed approach refers to the university-industry collaboration (UIC) based on the knowledge transfer processes in order to increase their contributions, and influence the socio-economic development at the local level. The framework was represented as an ontology consist of five dimensions and 57 relevant items for potential UIC that were described in order to facilitate the decision-making process when establishing a particular type of contract or project. The main ideas debates in the article are related to the new role of the university in the knowledge-based society; knowledge and innovation transfer processes; the UIC ontology design and development

Intercultural Education for Creative Entrepreneurship

Intercultural education is specific to the multicultural environment in Europe. The European focus on intercultural education is reflected in the documents, reports and measures taken through various financially supported projects. This article presents a research on the characterization of entrepreneurial potential in the case of an intercultural group of Romanian and Serbian trainees who became the target of a cross-border project between Romania and Serbia. The project, of which the designed Creative Entrepreneurship Training Program is part of, is entitled ‘InclusiveArt – Access to Culture for Disadvantaged Children and Youth.’ It implies a dynamic partnership formed by two NGOs (the Intercultural Institute Timisoara and ‘Nevo Parudimos,’ from Resita), one local public authority (the city of Zrenjanin) and one public cultural institution (the Centre for Fine and Applied Arts Terra, Kikinda). The proposed Creative Entrepreneurship Training Program (created in English) plans to help young potential entrepreneurs from the Banat Area in order to develop disadvantaged communities, by establishing commercially viable (self-sustaining) projects/businesses, based on a creative idea, as well as through the provision of a six-day training course for a group of 40 people aged 18 to 35. The training is delivered by a team of academics and training professionals from the Politehnica University Timisoara and the Intercultural Institute Timisoara, both from Romania. The proposed intercultural education program associated with the project implementation aims to the development of entrepreneurship competencies of young people that will be active in creative industries. The potential entrepreneurship characterization considered entrepreneurial traits, such as concerns, motivations, aptitudes and attitudes, as a result of data processing from a self-assessment test. The research results and conclusions support the definition of the structure, content and the didactic strategy adopted for the intercultural education program implementation

Supporting the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence Applications in Universities – A Research Based on Students Opinions

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to identify a feasible way to support the ethical use of AI in universities based on identifying how the AI software application ChatGPT is used in education at higher education institutions and with students in different majors. Study design/methodology/approach: The research methodology consisted of the following stages: (1) a survey based on a questionnaire designed considering the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to collect students’ opinions on the use of AI ChatGPT; (2) The results of the survey were used to design the materials of the AI Transmedia Campaign, but also to identify the best distribution channels of them; (3) After implementing the AI Transmedia Campaign, a feedback survey was developed, ascertaining the effectiveness of the approach to create an ethical behaviour towards the AI software application in general, and on AI ChatGPT, in particular. Findings: Research shows a gap in regulating the ethical use of AI applications in higher education. Thus, the AI Transmedia Campaign has been well received and appreciated by all categories of students. Originality/value: The research is international and was carried out in higher education institutions in Romania, Greece, and Slovenia (the size of the research sample, 2942, proves the scope of the study). The research results have demonstrated and characterised the students’ behaviour (the cognitive response and the intention to use) towards the use of AI ChatGPT and the utility of the AI Transmedia Campaign realised in the context of the implementation of the RespectNET project (2021-1-IT02-KA220-HED-000027578, https://respectnet.eu/)