Sociology students and assistant professor Palić at the international program BlendED2025

The Catholic University of Croatia, as the only representative of the Republic of Croatia, participates in the prestigious international program BlendED2025, which brings together students of various academic disciplines from a large number of European universities. University graduate students in sociology Tena Kirilenko and Antonio Treppo, led by Assoc. prof. Petra Palić, PhD, had the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to solve real business challenges presented to them by leading international companies.
 

The BlendED2025 program is designed to enable students from the fields of management, marketing, design, development and IT to work on projects proposed by real clients and professional companies. Through this innovative educational model, students develop technical and practical skills in a real business environment, with mentorship from industry and academic experts. The goals of the program include strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation, developing skills in project management, effective communication and remote work, and creating innovative solutions to solve real business challenges.
 

The program started with a one-week physical gathering at the coordinator's institution, followed by five months of virtual work, and ends with the presentation of the final projects in July of this year. The first physical mobility was held from February 17 to 21, 2025 at the University of Maia (Portugal), where students participated in intensive workshops, met their teammates and started working on projects. After the live week, the work continues in the virtual component that lasts from February to June this year.
 

The participation of our University in the BlendED2025 program represents an important step in strengthening international cooperation and provides our students with the opportunity to connect with colleagues and mentors from various European institutions. Students were assigned to international teams, which cooperated with prestigious companies such as Dr. Oetker, FarmIT, IMEC, Jägermeister, BlendED4Future and Bank Kärntner Sparkasse. These companies presented the students with real business challenges that they need to solve by the end of the semester, which enables them to apply their knowledge in practice and develop key skills for their future careers.
 

The program is coordinated by the University of Maia (Portugal), and the academic partners are Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (Austria), Glasgow Caledonian University (UK), Hellenic Mediterranean University - HMU (Greece), LUCA School of Arts (Belgium), Odisee University of Applied Sciences (Belgium), Trier University of Applied Sciences (Germany), University of Maribor (Slovenia), University of Orléans (France), University of Siegen (Germany), Polytechnic of Porto (Portugal), Catholic University of Croatia (Croatia). University of Vigo (Spain) and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania).
 

We look forward to future collaborations and new opportunities for our students!