In the last broadcast of this year, Informativka, which deals mainly with topics related to education, hosted the new Ph.D. holder at the University of Applied Sciences in Virovitica, Head of the Department for Economics, Mladena Bedeković, whose career trajectory is drenched with experience, both in the private and public sector.
The then current College for Management in Tourism and Informatics in the beginning was bestowed with adjectives such as ‘’young’’ and ‘’inexperienced’’, but today not only did it grow into a university of applied sciences, but it can also boast itself with an envious number of Ph.D. holders who with their work, knowledge, and experience contribute to the betterment and development of higher education in Virovitica. One of them is Mladena, a mother of two girls, who at one point travelled to ‘’her’’ post-graduate lectures, studied on the way back, and at the end of the day still had to contend with her motherly duties. The path to the so called ‘’crown of education’’ had not been easy, she said, there were tears and laughter, good and bad moments, but what she highlights as her key to her success was the support she received from her loved ones and without whom she would not have been able to achieve her goals.
– I think that no one can become successful if they do not have good communication with their colleagues, friends, and family, since success is never exclusively a personal success, because it is always dependent on the people that surround you- said humbly by the Head of Department Bedeković.
After her graduate studies, she started her career in the private sector, but soon came the desire for further progression in the academic sense, so she continued on her path at the post-graduate specialist studies at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb, and she has recently obtained her ‘’crown’’ of education from the Faculty of Economics in Osijek, study programme Management, by defending her doctoral thesis ‘’Non-tax Benefits and Their Influence on the Competitiveness of Croatian Agriculture’’. Other than her academic knowledge, this Ph.D. holder can also boast with experience obtained in the private sector, which always comes handy when working with students, to whom she always tries to show how taxes actually work, since she knows taxes like the back of her hand.
– I had been working a long time in the private sector, but then came across an opportunity, so I started working as an external associate for the College in Virovitica. It was at that point that I had an epiphany, new horizons opened, and I set new goals for myself, knowing that this was hiding in me for a long time and that this was something I really wanted all along. I found myself in accounting, but then I realised that it was not enough for me, so I wanted to expand my knowledge of finances, and ended up with taxes with which I obtained my Ph.D. and tied my story in a bow. Today I would not change my job for anything. – told to us with glee by Mladena, remembering her beginnings at the College, where she, to her great pleasure, was given the opportunity to teach accounting, which up to that point she had perfected by working in the private sector.
She is also aware that these topics are not very popular, but the fact that we are surrounded by taxes, accounting, and finances gives her incentive to bring these areas closer primarily to her professional studies students, and she hopes that they themselves will want to become entrepreneurs and that they will find this knowledge useful for them. Furthermore, she emphasizes that despite the entrenched opinion that taxes are a bad thing, she considers the Croatian tax system to be on a good path, considering all the reforms, changes, and additions the system went through, highlighting benefits such as the lowering of the value-added tax, parafiscal charges, certain memberships etc., but there is always room for improvement.
The opportunity to work at the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb was superseded by the desire to come back to her hometown, to her Virovitica where today at the University she raises generations by transferring to them her knowledge, to which the Dean of the aforementioned University, doc. dr. sc. Dejan Tubić, is incredibly grateful for. He also had a few words to say about Mladena.
– To talk about the Head of the Department of Economics dr.sc. Mladena Bedeković is only possible with superlatives. This truly no empty platitude, but reality. This is best seen in the achieved results in classes, profession, projects, and science, and let’s not forget her connection to the entire work collective of our university. It is also important to mention how dr.sc. Bedeković was elected two terms in a row for the position of Head of Department, and this fact speaks for itself. And this is perhaps the most important to mention, we are talking about a beloved professor who teaches certainly the most difficult economic courses, yet is still year to year, according to the most demanding, but also the most honest audience, among the highest rated professors. As the Dean of the University of Applied Sciences in Virovitica I am extremely proud of the results she has achieved thus far and would like to use this opportunity to congratulate dr.sc. Bedeković from the bottom of my heart for her success and obtaining her Ph.D. And for the end, one loud BRAVO! – said with pride by the Dean.