Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students “ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE: TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY”
On 18-22 March 2024, the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development of Vytautas Magnus University organised an intensive training course for foreign students under the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) “Accounting and Finance: towards Sustainability”.
The aim of this training was to deepen and broaden students’ specialised knowledge in the areas of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, environmental management accounting, sustainable financing, and to develop students’ competence in assessing financial aspects of sustainability.
The training was attended by 16 students from the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technology and Estonian University of Life Sciences.
During the intensive training, students learned what role green finance plays in greening the economy and what is the relationship between corporate social responsibility and the cost of capital, which is characteristic of green bonds. The teachers introduced them to which companies must prepare sustainability reports, what requirements are imposed on them, and based on which criteria they must be analyzed and evaluated. During the training, students discussed the topic of green accounting, learned to identify environmental costs, plan and evaluate them, learned what role taxes play in promoting the sustainability of the country’s economy, as well as the impact of agro-environmental subsidies on ecological efficiency.
The participants not only had the opportunity to discuss these and similar topics during the lectures, but at the end of the training they could present their point of view and the results of the group work on the topics suggested by the teachers.
The program was taught by 4 teachers from the Faculty of Bioeconomy Development of VMU Agricultural Academy – prof. dr. Vilija Aleknevičienė, assoc.prof. dr. Erika Besusparienė, lect. Asta Bendoraitytė and lect. Kristina Gesevičienė, as well as 3 teachers from Erasmus+ partner universities – lect. dr. Alona Irmeja and lect. Laila Kelmere from the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies and lect. dr. Maire Nurmet from the University of Tartu.
An important part of these intensive studies was acquainting participants with examples of the best practices. During the intensive training week, the participants of the program went on an educational excursion to the 700 ha farm “Farmers circle”. Here, the training participants were introduced to the principles of sustainable business practiced on the farm: “Farmers circle” sells the produce grown at farmers’ markets, and the farm operates a restaurant with seasonal dishes made from local products. During the farm tour and local tastings of the local products, students had the opportunity to get a closer look at examples of sustainable use of resources, organizational structure of sustainable business and the practical application of sustainability ideas.
This Erasmus+ BIP program was coordinated by associate professor of the Department of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting dr. Dalia Juočiūnienė and the international coordinator of the VMU Agricultural Academy dr. Monika Medikienė.
