Minerva started its successful cooperation with the University of Economics in Prague, in the 1998/1999 academic year, teaching the optional course Computer Integrated Enterprise Management in the Management Accounting Department. In 2003, the University of Economics decided to recognise the contribution and quality of the course by promoting it to the status of a compulsory course at the Faculty.

The course if designed in accordance with the International Education Standards (IES) for professional accountants. It builds on the knowledge of cost accounting and management accounting. It defines the basic aspects of preparing the IS/ICT information strategy in the context of the company’s strategy. It covers the application tools in business management, using progressive SW products, designed on the basis of ERP II enterprise resource management, including: supply chain management (SCM) elements,

customer relationship management (CRM), and e-commerce and c-commerce, in connection with the creation of databases for computer aided management decision-making processes, using Business Intelligence SW products.

The QAD Enterprise Applications SW tool is used at the seminars. The licenses and teaching are provided by Minerva Czech Republic. In the course of the semester, the students, thus, have a full QAD EA system at their disposal to work with the standard processes of an industrial enterprise. As a part of the seminars, the students can become familiar with the specific application during an excursion to a real company. At the end of the semester, the final project is presented, in which student teams use live data from the QAD EA system to simulate real processes in a fictitious company. The course is taken by about 100 students each semester. Minerva also helps prepare learning materials, such as textbooks.

Minerva greatly appreciates this opportunity to work with top professionals – leaders in Czech accounting standards methodology and leading figures in Czech controlling. We are also proud to provide detailed practical information and experiences from actual companies, which is integrated into the graduate study. The cooperation also received appreciation from ing. Bohumil Král, CSc., Head of the Management Accounting Department of the University of Economics in Prague: “I would like to express thanks and appreciation for the work done by Minerva Czech Republic for educating the students of the University of Economics in Prague by backing the content of the course Computer Integrated Enterprise Management. The cooperation between our department and Minerva is beneficial for both the students and the staff of our department”.

Minerva also supports the University of Economics in other activities. Since 2006, we have been collaborating on the lifelong education project entitled “Use of Accounting Information in Enterprise Management”. The course is intended for members of middle and senior management who are the primary users of accounting information, are responsible for managing enterprises and their structures and for creating executive management systems. Course participants will deepen their knowledge of enterprise value management. The acquired knowledge will improve the level and quality of communication between employees who are responsible for the operation and quality of the accounting, related information and other managers. Minerva Czech Republic supports the course as a partner.

Minerva has extended its collaboration with universities to Slovakia. Zvolen, where Minerva Slovakia is based, is also the site of the Technical University (TU) where Minerva introduced its programme of collaboration with the University of Economics in the Czech Republic in 2006. The ensuing interest resulted in a collaboration between Minerva Slovakia and the TU which began in the 2007/2008 academic year. Minerva currently collaborates on Business IT and Information System Design lectures and seminars at the Enterprise Management Department (Faculty of Forestry).

The courses are intended for 5th year students of Forestry Engineering who are majoring in Enterprise Management (Business Intelligence course) and Production Management (IS Design course). During the course the students become familiar with the QAD application and get hands-on experience with a real enterprise information system. Seminars are held in a computer lab equipped with new hardware complete with QAD Enterprise Applications installed. The server and the software licences are provided by Minerva Slovakia.

Minerva is very appreciative of this cooperation with leading academic experts and is grateful for the extraordinary contributions by Ing. Vojtech Demoč, CSc., an expert in enterprise IT, and Ing. Rastislav Rajnoha, PhD., Head of the Department. Similarly, the Technical University values this opportunity to provide the students with practical information and experience that becomes an integral component of the graduate programme.