September 7, 2016, 5th generation of students has completed the Summer Economics Institute Internship Program (SEI) with the fifteen participating 2016 students receiving certificates from U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia, H.E. Brent R. Hartley.
For the fifth consecutive year, SEI, a joint program between the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia and the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovenia (AmCham Slovenia), took place in July 2016. Fifteen top Slovenian university students had the opportunity to participate in a two week program of interactive lectures on business, economics and entrepreneurship with American professor Dr. Jay Ebben (US Fulbright Scholar to Slovenia in Entrepreneurship 2011, US Fulbright Senior Specialist 2016, University of St. Thomas, School of Business, Minnesota), as well as field trips and site visits to successful Slovenian companies and institutions organized by the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia.
The SEI program also allows students to undertake a one month internship with selected Amcham Slovenia companies. This year internships were offerd by the following AmCham member companies: Agilcon, Bisnode, Competo, Attorney Office Čad, Droga Kolinska, Goodyear Dunlop Sava Tires, Microsoft, Petrol, Philip Morris and Špica International. Through internships, the students obtain work and professional experience, and some of them are offered a concrete job offer, which is particularly important today.The Summer Economics Institute is a program that allows students to become familiar with the labour market and future employers, as well as to gain valuable experiences for further career development. It also allows employers to come into contact with aspiring students, who need to go through a selection process to participate in the program.
As U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia Brent R. Hartley said during the ceremony :«It is a tribute to the success of this Embassy initiated program and the collaboration with AmCham Slovenia that we are celebrating the 5th anniversary of the program this year and with so many of our SEI alumni in attendance!”
Mag. Ajša Vodnik, AmCham Slovenia Exeucutive Director, emphasized that she believes in the program mainly due to the proactive integration of young people and successful businesses: ˝Through SEI young people get the chance to experience the labour market and companies gain access to new interesting staff. SEI students use their summer to initiate an important step in their careers.˝
As one of the SEI students said: ˝SEI changed my life.˝
We would like to thank all participating institutions and lecturers for sharing their knowledge and experience in their respective fields. This year's list of site visits organized by the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia was extensive and impressive:
- DUOL engineering
- Institute for Macroeconomic Analysis and Development (IMAD)
- Bank of Slovenia
- Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED) Slovenia
- ABC Accelerator
- Zavod 404 – mladinski tehnološki center
- American Slovenian Education Foundation (ASEF)
- Fulbright program
- NLB Center inovativnega podjetništva (CIP)
- SPIRIT Slovenia
- Finance newspaper
- Poligon Creative Centre
- Regional Creatice Economy Centre (RCKE)
- Andraz Tori – Zemanta and Silicon Gardens Fund
- State Secretary Ales Cantarutti, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
- Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, LL.M. (Harvard), LL.M. (Torino), Intellectual Property Institute, Ljubljana
