First impressions of our students and teachers

The 2CG Compliance, Risk and Governance minor has been opened in June 2022 and officially launched in September 2022. Our students have therefore had the opportunity to visit Enterprise Risk Management, Corporate Governance and Sustainability Reporting courses in the past semester (winter term 2022). Compliance & Business Ethics and Business Continuity & Crises Management courses are to be taught in summer term 2023.

Well, what are our first impressions?

Florentia Vasileiou, student of International and Diplomatic Studies, Faculty of International Relations talks about her recent personal experience.

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade at the Faculty of International relations talks about her recent personal experience.

First impressions of our students

What was your motivation to study the “2CG Compliance, Risk, and Governance” minor specialization? Did it fulfil your expectations or do you regret your decision?

What was your motivation to study the “2CG Compliance, Risk, and Governance” minor specialization? Did it fulfil your expectations or do you regret your decision?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „I primarily registered for this specialization due to the sustainability reporting subject since I was interested in such a topic and could not find any other similar courses at the university. However, later I realized that GRC and ESG are closely related, and risk and governance subjects are very practical, useful, and can broaden horizons.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „It seemed like a minor with a big future potential. These expectations came true.“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „I chose this minor specialization primarily due to my interest in ESG generally, ESG standards, sustainability reporting, and other sustainability-related topics, all of which I had been interested in even before the announcement of the specialization. In combination with risk management, these represent topics of intense discussion nowadays, and since compliance has been receiving even more attention lately, it sounded perfect for me. I am glad I picked this minor. I am satisfied with its content and feel that the minor is very practical and good preparation for work in compliance, corporate governance, ESG consulting, and risk management. I really appreciated the valuable insights, case studies, and involvement of the companies present in the field of the study.“

Which courses did you take so far and what are your first impressions? Did you enjoy them?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „I took Sustainability Reporting (2PR513), Corporate Governance (2PR515) and Enterprise Risk Management (2PR512) courses. I have a very positive first impression. I am, without a doubt, happy about this minor. First of all, all teachers are professional and have an excellent modern approach towards the students, so I gladly attended classes. I also liked that the courses were in English since we expanded our vocabulary and had an opportunity to cooperate with exchange students.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „Sustainable reporting – very good; Corporate Governance – very good; Enterprise Risk Management – very good.“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „I had the opportunity to study Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Governance and Enterprise Risk Management. I enjoyed their content, especially their practical debugging—all the courses aimed at providing valuable tips for using what we learned in praxis.“

What are your key takeaways from your lectures so far?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „I think I learned a lot about risk management processes, current and future requirements for non-financial reporting, and also about good corporate governance practices as well as failures. Moreover, we worked a lot in teams, so I got to know more people.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „It is a lot but for sure very useful.“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „I gained a deep knowledge of the newly approved European Reporting Standards, approved by the Council of the EU in December 2022. I enriched my knowledge in terms of Corporate Governance and had a deep dive into managing risks in corporations and the ISO Standards.“

How difficult was it for you to pass the courses?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „I think in the beginning, for people who don’t have any GRC and ESG background, it could be challenging. However, teachers explain everything and give all resources needed to pass the course. After all, it was achievable. Since we did not have any final exams, I felt less pressure to learn by rote. Instead, I had more time to focus on understanding those topics. I actually think we learned a lot and remember much more just thanks to the lectures and projects.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „It takes some work and time to do all the assignments but I dedicated a lot of time and energy to them and they went good.“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „There were some tasks to be fulfilled during the semester because we were expected to work continuously on our term project. On the other hand, the work and cooperation with team colleagues was fun and, in the end, it was not as difficult to pass the subjects.“

In your opinion, is the minor specialization sufficiently linked to professional practice?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „In my opinion, it is definitely linked to professional practice. In every course, we discussed topics that are important for business and are applied in practice. External speakers also gave interesting insights about how it all works in real corporations.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „Yes, I think that it is a lot.“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „Yes, these subjects are some of the few courses which are highly linked to professional practice, and they aim to show how to apply theory in practice. Furthermore, some external companies came into the lectures to show us how they do particular tasks – tools for risk management, sustainability reporting, etc.“

Is there anything that you would like to say to your teachers?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „Nothing specific, I am just thankful for their approach towards us and the good and interesting semester behind.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „You are doing a great job!“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „I truly appreciate that the faculty came up with such a minor specialization that reflects what is happening on the market and reacts to the topics which resonate in society. The subjects can prepare students for work in such fields. Furthermore, students can gain a comparative advantage and be attractive on the labor market because there is a high demand for people who know the ropes regarding risk management and ESG. Thank you all for the interactive lectures and workshops and your positive attitude.“

To sum up, would you recommend this minor specialization to others?

Alina Sosnytska, student of International Trade, Faculty of International Relations: „I would definitely recommend this minor to others. It is very practically oriented and corresponds to the current and future demand in the labor market.“

Kateřina Matušíková, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „Definitely yes!“

Nicol Laurinová, student of International Business, Faculty of International Relations: „I recommend this minor specialization to all those who are interested in and want to gain practical insights. These subjects are not about theory but rather about how things are done in business. Since there are not many subjects taught in the Czech Republic, the students can get one step ahead and gain a comparative advantage because the areas which the subjects touch on are under constant development.“

First impressions of our teachers

Lucie Andreisová, lecturer of Enterprise Risk Management and Compliance & Business Ethics courses

Lucie Andreisová, lecturer of Enterprise Risk Management and Compliance & Business Ethics courses

Teaching in the course 2PR512 | Enterprise Risk Management has been one of the most enjoyable ones during my whole time at the university (which is now almost 10 years). 34 students enrolled in this course, majority of which were students from the Erasmus+ program, but there were also representatives of „regular“ study programs coming from the Faculty of Finance and Accounting, Faculty of Business administration, and Faculty of International Relations – representing many different cultures, including Czech, German, Swedish, French, US, Indian, Dutch, Danish, Italian, Spanish etc. Students attended our Thursday afternoon three-hour sessions on quite a regular basis, and, above all, they actively participated in them, which I greatly appreciate. Our meetings thus had fantastic dynamics and often even took an unexpected direction, mainly thanks to the inquisitive questions of my students and their genuine interest in the discussed topics!

The course was structured into six thematic blocks:

Governance, Risk and Compliance introduction (GRC framework);
Effective Risk Management;
ERM standards (ISO 31000);
Corporate ERM;
Third party (supplier/ vendor) risk management; and
Operational Risk Management.

The format of our sessions was quite a common one – a combination of standard lectures and workshops. For both lectures and also workshops we actively used the new university learning & development platform called Moodle. We mutually appreciated Moodle mainly in the areas of completing and sharing of topical Key Learning Points, weekly discussions around industry Hot Topics and, of course, also sharing slides and other study materials (videos, whitepapers etc.).

Students were evaluated during the semester – up to 20 % of their final grade reflected on their own activity in classes and discussions on Moodle (20 points); further they could have collected up to 50 points for the written team assignment/ case study, and up to 30 points for the team presentation of the above. The case studies were solved in teams (on average there were five-member teams) and the topics of these case studies were assigned already at the beginning of the semester, i.e. students had more than 9 weeks to work on them. These were not seminar papers on a narrowly defined topic, but proper case studies – as an example I can name an “Executive management briefing paper on the importance of ERM” (with specific parameters and for a specific company), or a “Senior management paper on addressing weaknesses in compliance & risk culture and standards” (also within a specific company and with specific parameters).

Consultants from Risk Advisory at Deloitte were then included in the teaching and also evaluation of case studies – i.e. students had the opportunity to connect directly with subject matter experts from outside. And I have to say that their feedback on presented team assignments was an extremely positive one (it made me really proud 😊)!

At the end of the course, I also asked my students for their feedback and I am very happy to conclude that most of them found the content of this course very interesting and nowadays also very relevant; and particularly the connection with professional practice and also the way of ending the course was positively assessed.

To sum up, I really enjoyed being on this course this year – especially thanks to my extremely clever, communicative and inquisitive students! Many thanks!!

Daniel Houska, lecturer of Sustainability Reporting

Having had the opportunity to walk students through the current regulatory developments in the EU sustainable finance framework and its interconnection with corporate sustainability reporting of the future has resulted in an exciting three-month journey with many engaged and highly motivated students.

During the lectures, students had a chance to exchange with leading practitioners in the field coming from, among others, consulting firms such as EY or Deloitte. As for the seminars, students were working on real case studies (i.e. with existing ESG reports and coming up with improvements) and worked in teams of four (usually broadly distributing their work to (i.) cross-cutting, (ii.) environmental, (iii.) social and (iv.) governance+ domains). Apart from stakeholder engagement, materiality assessment, double materiality, EU Taxonomy and other pivotal concepts, teams gradually worked their way up to coming up with both benchmark analysis (by comparing both most widely-used ESG frameworks/standards and other peers) and gap analysis (to identify potential gaps in reporting).

In order to shake things up a bit, consultants coming from Deloitte’s ESG team took part in both mid-term and final presentations, which helped to keep teams focused on practical peculiarities and allowed them to be provided with an insightful feedback from experts working with ESG reports on a daily basis.

It is worth noting that this is a first-ever class on corporate sustainability reporting structured around (draft) European Sustainability Reporting Standards developed by EFRAG, a European standard-setter. Thus, by the time our students will have set foot on the career ladder, they will possess a deep understanding of where corporate sustainability and its reporting is heading.

Jan Klouda, lecturer of Corporate Governance and Business Continuity & Crises Management

Multi-billion organizations sometimes fail and often because of their management. Courts sent managers to jail for defrauding their companies or for failing to comply with managerial duty of care. This could had been prevented should affected organizations had in place proper corporate governance, should they had the right people in the right roles, should information flown where it should had and should control mechanism been in place and functioning.

Successful managers and organizations use corporate governance to their benefit: they establish bodies, hire people, demand monitoring and control, check data and information through reports, engage with their shareholders and talk to internal and external stakeholders. Newbies thrown into the vortex of corporate reality may feel overwhelmed with commercial pressures or give in to less mature colleagues who do not see proper business conduct as a priority.

Having gone through thirteen weeks of intense corporate governance education and practicing, our students have an oversight of why corporate governance is not boring, how laws match business reality, where threats lay hidden in organizations and what aspects of business practice are worth monitoring. Orientation in main aspects of corporate governance is supposed to be the key takeaway and kick-start advantage our students will have at the beginning of their careers compared to students who miss this course.

A benefit worth mentioning is international students. We teach the course in English, which gives students international terminology applied in real corporate life. Also, diverse experience and cultural backgrounds, plus a broad range of international examples, expand information and knowledge students take away from the course. We also brought in international experts from Deloitte Legal to work with students on a case study that pushed all to the edge of their knowledge and creativity and let students feel the weight of board room decision-making.

Winter semester 2022 has been a pilot run that proofed worth continuing in winter 2023. I look forward to meeting new students then.

What else have our students said?

The course has a very nice structure of lectures and workshops, where the theoretical and practical parts were suitably combined. We were required to be active in each lesson, which kept me „always on my toes“ and also made the lessons more fun.

The lectures were very interesting and I generally appreciate that the course is practically oriented. It’s also very nice that it doesn’t end with a test or an exam – instead you need to prepare yourself for each lesson and prepare a final case study (in teams). As a result, the student gets much more out of it than if he/she had just learned the answers to the exam questions, which he/she would soon forget anyway.

In the course, I really liked the use of Moodle for so-called “Key Learning Points” and “Hot Topics”, and the perfect approach, helpfulness, readiness and also feedback from the teacher. Overall, I rate the course very positively!

I went into 2CG minor thinking that it could be an interesting addition to my IR degree and came out of it with a career waiting for me after I graduate. I never thought I would work in a corporation, but I am happy that I get to combine the notion of ethics (something I am very interested in from a philosophical point of view) and a touch of law (something I would have loved to study if I could study forever!) as well as my IR skills. 🙂 Thank you so much for your kindness, knowledge and expertise in this field. You honestly inspire me, and I will miss being a VŠE student because of professors like you! But who knows, as I said, maybe one day I will be back!

Honestly, this was my favourite class from this semester, and I must commend you Dr Andreisova, as I genuinely enjoy the way you organise your lectures. I am a person who can easily slip into daydreaming; but I rarely felt that I did that during your lectures because you incorporate the right amount of active participation during the whole 3 hours, which works very well for me!

2PR512 Enterprise Risk Management

A great course that responds to changing market demands. It is being taught by one of the faculty vice-deans, who was at the center of events during the development of new European standards (so you are getting the first-hand information). In this course, students are getting a lot of useful information, which they will definitely use in the future. I also liked the use of Teams and the vice dean’s enthusiasm for the issue.

The course was very interactive and there were external speakers from Deloitte, Vodafone etc. Especially this part was very beneficial to us – as we were able to take our practical knowledge and test it in practice.

Very interesting course content; a practical course focusing on the future legislative requirements. I really liked the teacher’s approach, the space for teamwork, the materials that we were getting, and also, for example, the use of Teams.

2PR513 Sustainability Reporting

I really liked the interactivity and practical focus of the presentations. I also appreciate the way how our lecturer evaluated our final team assignments – he´s done that under conditions corresponding to real corporate practice.

The subject was very interesting and I particularly liked the fact that the lecturer adjusted the course content and format based on our ongoing feedback and reactions to the individual topics.

2PR515 Corporate Governance