A digital leap in education

Economic Informatics (EI) is a department in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEAA) at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania. It educates over 230 students every year in a field that is of significant interest to the digital economy. Since the IT industry in Romania is in continuous development and there is a high need for qualified employees, the EI program is one of the most requested at the university.

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University is one of Romania’s oldest universities and one of its most advanced research institutions. The number of its faculties and programs, delivered in three languages, has been continually growing since the university’s inception.

In 1997, the university’s Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEAA) opened a Department of Economic Informatics (EI) that combines economics and technology. After a decade, its bachelor’s program was named the “Best Academic Program of the Year” in the country due to its high applicability to economic reality.

Dedicated to providing students with the right tools for the future, the FEAA focuses on full theoretical and practical training that matches the labor market. That is why the FEAA collaborated with Fujitsu, SAP Romania and Red Point Software Solutions to create a laboratory dedicated to students specializing in economic informatics.

The construction and modification of the lab within the FEAA required hardware and software elements. Fujitsu offered the hardware infrastructure and workstations, including PRIMERGY RX2540, RX2530 Rack Servers and ESPRIMO G9010 desktop PCs. It also provided licenses and cloud subscriptions. SAP offered the business applications needed to support IT courses, including licenses and cloud subscriptions for SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business byDesign and SAP Success Factors HR. Red Point Software Solutions, Fujitsu’s SELECT Partner, was responsible for the management of the project.

As a result, the lab offers a technologically advanced space, allowing the students to become familiar with multiple enterprise-level technologies. “We want the students to have solid theoretical and practical training,” says Daniel Păvăloaia, Professor at FEAA/EI at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University.

“This lab offers them just that. It anticipates the conditions that our graduates will have in their future workplace. In the Fujitsu/SAP laboratory, students will familiarize themselves with both technology and teamwork in the process of developing IT projects.”

Practical courses associated with specific IT disciplines can now be successfully run at the lab for undergraduate and postgraduate students, hosting 45 people at a time. Each year, over 700 students will benefit from the lab’s IT infrastructure, extracurricular courses and workshops.

“The EI collective and the Red Point consultants will also organize presentations and teaching sessions on the business processes that the students will encounter in the working world,” says Doina Fotache, Professor at FEAA/Economic Informatics at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University. “The laboratory offers them the chance to put into practice, using the latest generation equipment and solutions, the knowledge gained during the courses.”

The students’ new skills will of fer them an advantage at the start of their careers. Their success will be, in part, the result of a fruitful partnership. “From the beginning, the collaboration between Red Point, Fujitsu and FEAA evolved on all levels: involvement, openness and availability,” says Păvăloaia. “This partnership is a lasting journey.”