July the 25th, 2023 – Students who complete a two-year professional short-cycle study programme can continue their education at the undergraduate Digital Marketing course. With the adoption of the new Law on Higher Education and Scientific Activity and the affirmation of this level of study, a unique opportunity has been opened for those who have completed any vocational school and did not take the state graduation exam to still move towards a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Algebra is launching the first two-year professional short-cycle study programme in the field of digital technologies, specifically Internet Marketing course, which will be open for enrollment to high school graduates and students at vocational schools, including students with completed three-year secondary education.
Although the new Act on Higher Education and Scientific Activity from 2022 strengthened the role of the state graduation exams in the process of enrolling in study programmes and ended the possibility of enrolling high school graduates exclusively through entrance exams, a completely new possibility of enrolling in studies was introduced for those who did not take the state graduation exams or took it and did not pass it which enabled them to move towards a bachelor’s or master’s degree. The launch of this new programme opens opportunities for all those who want to further develop their career in the field of marketing communications with an emphasis on Internet communication channels or to retrain from another area of expertise in the field of modern communications, marketing and advertising.
Upon completion of the professional short-cycle study programme, students will acquire 120 ECTS points and a certificate of the fifth HKO (Croatian qualification framework) level, with which they can achieve a quality career or successfully continue their higher education in undergraduate programmes of professional studies, says Assoc. Ph.D. Mislav Balković, Dean of Algebra: “We do not use the potential of the form of a short professional study enough, there are only two such studies in the segments of polytechnics and metallurgy in Croatia at this moment. France, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and a number of other successful EU countries have a significant number of students and later applicants of such studies employed within their economies. For many students who graduate from secondary vocational schools, managing their careers is very difficult, so the reaffirmation of this study level in Croatia has opened completely new possibilities. With this, we keep pace with the development of higher education in Europe. The professional short-cycle study programme of Internet Marketing is the first such study in Croatia focused on digital technologies, and we found the model for this form and the study itself in the extremely developed countries of northern Europe, especially in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the development of this study programme, we collaborated with partner universities from the mentioned countries who presented their experiences to us.”
“Algebra’s new study programme will equip future professional candidates with knowledge in the field of marketing processes and campaigns, as well as market and business communications, which will help them to independently manage communications in a digital environment. It is a good entry point for anyone who wants to dive deeper into the complex world of digital marketing and advanced algorithms or immediately find their place in the economy,” concludes Vanja Šebek, Head of Algebra’s digital marketing study programme and marketing expert.Applications for the professional short-cycle study programme of Internet Marketing are open on the Algebra website and will soon be available on the central application portal https://hubs.li/Q01YsC0b0.
