Competition for Secondary School Students within the European University ENGAGE.EU

At the National School of Commerce and Banking it was officially opened the Competition for Secondary School Students in the frameworks of the European University ENGAGE.EU part of which is the UNWE in a partnership with eight other leading European universities in the field of economics and social sciences.

The Director of the National Trade and Banking School Emilia Ivanova welcomed the participants and outlined: "We love to compete, our school should always be first, if it is not first the suffering is enormous, now there will be a competition again, there will be suffering again because the first will be the one who will compete at the international level but I am convinced that the one who will be chosen for first will be first in the whole competition among all participating universities. I would like to express thankfulness to the representatives of UNWE for choosing our school. It means that the university believes that we will defend its honour, and defending someone's honour is complicated and responsible. Good luck to our school in this competition!"

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov, Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship of UNWE, Emilia Ivanova, Chief Assist. Dr. Kristian Zhelev, lecturer at the International Economic Relations and Business Department of UNWE, Prof. Dr. Daniela Feschian, Chairwoman of the Coordination Council of the Association of Economic Schools in Bulgaria and Deputy Head of the Accounting and Analysis Department of UNWE /from the left to the right/

"I am extremely excited to see you here on this day and to attend this remarkable event, which I am sure that happens for the first time in the history of our country. A secondary school, not just any secondary school, but a specialized secondary school to be invited by a university to participate in a competition of the big European family, of a European network of universities", said Prof. Dr. Daniela Feschian and outlined: "It is not a coincidence at all. I would like to express thankfulness to the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, on whose behalf I welcome you, for the enormous trust in your school, the winner of the national competitions of the Association of Economic Schools in Bulgaria. The school whose graduates have always won the prize positions. Respect to your teachers, respect to the management of this school. It is an honour for us, for the UNWE and for the Association of Economic Schools in Bulgaria, which I lead and represent, to take part in this first step, which I believe you will defend. You have a series of competitions coming up, but as Mrs. Ivanova said, it is a tradition for you, it is a desire for you, it is a passion for you because you are the best. Today we are attending a Forum where the best universities, including the UNWE, admit the best to continue the tradition. Dear students, I wish you to assert your worthy position in life with the energy of youth, to succeed, to follow your dreams because a man is as great as his dreams. You will be laureates again and the UNWE will be waiting for you as winners to join its great academic family. Keep fighting, good luck and farewell", wished Prof. Dr. Daniela Feschian.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Feschian is welcoming the participants

"Today we are going to announce the start of a competition which is a pilot, so we had to choose only one school and the choice, I am confident, is the right one. I am very glad that so many people have expressed their willingness to participate in a complex competition“, said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov and outlined: "The content of the competition is to give your ideas, to defend them from the existing problems, but the solutions are yet to be found and in that sense I want you to be creative, to seek information, to combine the existing knowledge with your ideas, so that at the end, regardless of the regulation that requires one winner, all teams to be equitably represented".

Prof. Dr. Denitsa Gorchilova, Scientific Secretary of the Public Administration Department of UNWE welcomed the participants and expressed thankfulness for the nice and cheerful atmosphere with which they were welcomed. "The ENGAGE.EU network is a very interesting opportunity and has put us on a completely different position on the European map", pointed out Assoc. Prof. Gorchilova.

Chief Assist. Dr. Kristian Zhelev said that it was his first visit to the school but he felt in a calm and pleasant environment, "I feel like I am with friends and it is nice to see young ambitious people who are ready to work not only at the European level but also at the international level". He pointed out that at the end of the competition one team will win, "but for me you are all winners once you have reached this stage", said Chief Assist. Christian Zhelev.

Daniel Kostov, environmental entrepreneur, founder of Ecology Bulgaria Ltd. and the ecological educational programme Going Green also greeted the participants in the competition and said: “I was a student of Assoc. Prof. Kolarov nearly 20 years ago and what I will always remember is that if we want to change a process, to achieve a result or create an innovation, we have to explore all possible data. If we collect all the data and structure it properly, we can see the end result. My advice is to be creative, run your "sensors" and collect as much data as you can and you will be able to formulate the best solutions".

The opening ceremony continued with a presentation of the European University Network ENGAGE.EU and the competition regulations.

During the event Daniel Kostov introduced the students participating in the competition to the issues and perspectives of the circular economy in relation to the achievement of one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption. He also presented some examples to provide initial impetus and guidelines for generating the ideas for the competition.

Students had the opportunity to ask questions to the competition organizers and to receive guidelines and instructions on how to work on their projects.

The competition aims to develop the creativity, entrepreneurial and innovative skills of secondary school students.

In the competition will took part students from 11th and 12th grade of the National Trade and Banking High School divided into 10 teams.

The topic of the competition is related to one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption. Students will present their elaborations on 24 October 2022. A five-member jury will evaluate the projects and select the winners.

The winners will go on to the international stage of the competition and compete against the best students from the universities partners of UNWE in the ENGAGE.EU University Network.