02/04/2015
10th “Graduate Students’ Forum” of Thessaloniki
10th year of the “Graduate Students’ Forum” at TITAN’s Nea Efkarpia plant 10 steps closer to accomplishing the transition from education to employment
The “Graduate Students’ Forum” of Thessaloniki, the annual event organized by TITAN Cement S.A. promoting better connections and catalysing constructive dialogue between graduate students and representatives of the business community, is celebrating 10 years of service to Thessaloniki’s youth.
To date, TITAN’s plant in Nea Efkarpia has hosted more than 1,200 graduate students from six educational institutes and has given the floor to more than 45 speakers from 40 companies and organizations who have shared their personal and corporate know-how and experience with the aim to better equip future executives for their entry into the professional arena.
This year’s event was held on 27 March 2015 and was attended by approximately 100 graduate students from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Democritus University of Thrace, the University of Macedonia, Anatolia College (ACT), ICBS Business College and the International Hellenic University.
The program included two sessions. Session one placed emphasis on entrepreneurship, innovation and extroversion. The speakers who shared their personal experiences and knowledge with the students, in order to encourage them to explore business ideas and opportunities were Dimitris Kontarinis (Director of Entrepreneurship Hub, ACT), Dimitris Kourtesis (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Goodvidio) and Dimitris Lakasas (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Olympia Electronics S.A. and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Alexander Innovation Zone of Thessaloniki).
Session two focused on the soft and hard skills, as well as the tools and techniques available to help students build their professional profile. Mapping the Greek and the international labour markets, speakers Vassileios Velkos (Career Services Manager, kariera.gr), Panagiotis Georgakopoulos (Associate Principal, McKinsey & Company) and Nikolaos Pentzos (CEO, ΖΑΝΑΕ) gave young scientists specific examples in terms of what employers are looking for and guidelines on how to gain a competitive advantage.
The students and speakers were welcomed by Michalis Barboutis, TITAN Plant Manager in Nea Efkarpia, and Agelos Kalogerakos, Operations Director, Cement Division Greece, TITAN Cement S.A.
About the “Graduate Students’ Forum”
The Graduate Students’ Forum was first launched in 2002 and has been taking place since at TITAN plants located in Kamari, Viotia and in Nea Efkarpia, Thessaloniki. To date, more than 3,150 students have participated in a total of twenty-three events.
The challenge faced by young people in their transition from education to employment and the provision of support to them is a top priority among TITAN’s activities. In this context, the Group has established a particularly fruitful cooperation scheme with the academic community, which includes training and internships, information events jointly organized with educational institutes, visits at universities, implementation of educational programs at the sites of the plants, cooperation with student initiatives etc.