The Business Council

At the Program Council Meeting for the Management Program on May 8, 2024, 13 individuals participated, including three SAN staff members and ten representatives from the socio-economic sector.

The meeting began with a brief introduction by Dean K. Kandefer, Prof. SAN, who outlined the purpose of the session and emphasized the importance of maintaining strong connections between the university and the labor market. He highlighted SAN’s commitment to being a leader among universities, setting trends, providing students with extensive and up-to-date knowledge, and tailoring its educational offerings to meet market needs.

Participants were introduced to the curricula of the Management Program at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The attendees were invited to share their perspectives on new trends in management that should be integrated into the educational process and student curricula. Special attention was given to evaluating current and emerging specializations, identifying those that are particularly relevant and necessary, as well as reviewing the subjects offered.

Additionally, participants were encouraged, as practitioners, to take part in the teaching process or deliver lectures in their areas of expertise.

Director M. Dębski, Prof. SAN, proposed for discussion and consultation new specializations focusing on sustainable development issues and legal aspects of management.

On November 29, 2023, another meeting of the Business Council at the Social Academy of Sciences (SAN) was held at the Warsaw branch. The session, chaired by Miron Maicki, Chairman of the Business Council, alongside Dr. Maciej Dębski, Prof. SAN (Organizational Director of the Warsaw Branch), Dr. Krzysztof Kandefer, Prof. SAN (Dean of the Faculty of Management and Business), and Dr. Adrian Markiewicz (Business Council Advisor), welcomed Business Council members representing various enterprises, including new members

Participants stressed the need for course content to focus on practical skills, even at the expense of broader academic knowledge. Proposed areas for specialization included international negotiations, cross-cultural financial systems, global etiquette, Poland’s promotion abroad, and securing foreign investments. It was suggested to adapt international best practices to align with Poland’s unique conditions.

Further discussions included recommendations for engaging practitioners in the teaching process, emphasizing entrepreneurial education and innovative thinking. Prof. Gen. Bogusław Pacek noted that private universities, such as SAN, have a competitive advantage due to their flexibility in adapting to economic demands, which should benefit students and align with national priorities.

On 07-02-2023 another meeting of the Business Council of the University of Social Sciences in Warsaw

The existing catalogue of teaching subjects for the Management faculty and the possibility, legitimacy and courses of action for a possible extension of the subject catalogues mainly due to the so-called market demand - trends (mainly from the employers' perspective);

In the event of a possible decision to expand the existing catalogue of teaching subjects, the questions of what formal and other implications this might entail were discussed;

Mr Wawrzyniec Jakubowski asked whether it was the university's practice to collect information from students (feedback) in this area, i.e. which new subject contents should be introduced into the existing syllabuses and which new teaching subjects should be established. In addition, he asked whether, and if so in which fields of study at UoSS, e.g. full-time or part-time, in which specialisations, at first or rather second level of studies, is there the greatest demand for new additional teaching content?

The questions were answered that, on an ongoing basis, relevant feedback from students is collected using various channels, such as: social media channels, the university newspaper, www.san (students use the relevant forms at https://warszawa.san.edu.pl, among others), direct channel - during teaching sessions, various meetings between students and university representatives, etc.

As far as the areas with the greatest need for new, updated didactic content are concerned, in principle this process should be and is an ongoing process for all didactic subjects. However, it is possible to distinguish subjects in which this demand is more frequent. In this respect, a distinction can be made between the following subjects: journalism and social communication, marketing.

In the same context, one cannot fail to mention the cooperation with the Business Council, which is taken very seriously by the universities and is developing, as more and more interesting and inspiring proposals in this area are being sent to the universities from the representatives of this body as a result of intensified cooperation. These are particularly important messages for the university authorities because they come directly from the economic market, and are therefore the most up-to-date and confirmed by real economic demand.

Mr Grzegorz Furtak Furtak reflected on current trends in the establishment of new teaching courses at universities such as UoSS. He also pointed out a clear gap in the curricula of economic universities when it comes to thorough teaching of pricing. The need to fill this teaching gap is due to the lack of analytical skills, data sciences, etc. in the employee market. It is worth introducing any subjects that orient students towards entrepreneurship and management.

The UoSS representatives undertook to send a catalogue of teaching subjects and selected syllabuses concerning them to the members of the Business Council. In addition, they also noted that in terms of didactic content, one should not deviate too far from the UoSS "DNA", as this may materialise various unfavourable implications for the UoSS.

Prof. Maciej Dębski stated that, in general, one might be tempted to believe that, currently in Poland, many universities do not educate their students to the expected extent. There is a particular lack of training in analytical skills. Therefore, it is worth considering separating analytical subjects from mainstream teaching.

Andrzej Cieślawski noted that studies should, above all, trigger in students an openness to new knowledge. Such is his personal experience. Despite the fact that he graduated from a mechanical faculty at a polytechnic, studying this analytical course prepared him very well for management.
All participants at the meeting agreed with the proposal that selected members of the Business Council should participate in some of the classes conducted with students. This would allow for mutual benefits: for potential employers and for the students.

It was agreed that the next meeting should be held before the upcoming Easter holidays and the next meeting in a narrower circle after the holidays.

Pre-Christmas meeting of the UoSS Business Council

On 19 December 2022, another meeting of the Business Council of the University of Social Sciences took place in the building of our university. The meeting, chaired by Prof. UoSS Krzysztof Kandefer - Dean of the Faculty of Management and Security, Prof. UoSS Maciej Dębski - Organisational Director, and Mr Miron Maicki - Chairman of the Business Council, was attended by more than 30 people representing various companies. Among the invited guests, there were also candidates for new members of this body, who were formally nominated later in the meeting.

Before this took place, the hosts of the meeting recalled the main functions and tasks of the Council, listed selected activities of the Council undertaken in the recent period, emphasising that the end of the so-called "lock-down" allowed for a renewed increase in the dynamics of this forum for cooperation between business and academia, and therefore expressed the hope that the coming year will be a time of much more intensive activity of the Council than it was during the Covid-19 pandemic. After the representatives of the universities had spoken, individual members of the Council took the floor. Its Chairman, Mr Miron Maicki, expressed his personal satisfaction at leading the Council and thanked the Council for the period of cooperation so far with the authorities, staff and students of the university. He further encouraged the other members of the Council to take advantage of the post-pandemic period to once again intensify their cooperation, the eventual fruits of which would accrue to all parties concerned. This speech was followed by speeches from individual Council members and candidates for membership. Among the topics addressed, particular importance was given to the need to practically consume the benefits of mutual cooperation.

In the opinion of Council members representing enterprises of different sizes, ranging from micro, small business through medium-sized enterprises to large Polish and international corporations, an effective means of achieving the aforementioned benefits is through the functioning of a constantly evolving platform, understood as selected forms of cooperation for the exchange of information, knowledge, experience, organisational culture, business trends, etc., between the business represented by Council members and the UoSS.