ISF Launches Platform stagii.isf.ro Listing Financial Internships Available for Students
Bucharest, October 7, 2021 – On Tuesday, October 5, the Financial Studies Institute (ISF) presented its education projects during the online debate organized for International Education Day. These projects are conducted in partnership with various universities, companies, and institutions.
“In the past year, over 2,500 students and pupils have benefited from ISF’s financial education programs. This is a commitment we continue to honor by running existing programs and developing new ones! Financial education is essential for improving the economy and the living standards of the population, and we will focus our resources on increasing financial literacy and becoming a sustainable bridge between the academic and business environments,” said Marian Siminică, Executive Director of ISF, during the event.
The event also featured Mihaela Onofrei, Vice-Rector of "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași; Alexandru Ciuncan, General Director of UNSAR; Cătălin Câmpeanu, Deputy Director of ISF; Laura Elly Naghi, Coordinator of Financial Education Department at ISF; Raluca Lădaru, Research Coordinator and Editor of Financial Studies Review, ISF; and Alexandra Bontaș, Head of Financial Monitoring and Education Service at ASF. Additionally, representatives from over 10 university centers across the country attended.
During this event, ISF launched the platform stagii.isf.ro as part of the "Internships for Students" project, which aims to create a link between the business environment (financial sector) and students eager to participate in internships.
“This project is unique in the financial sector. We aimed to create a bridge between companies operating in the financial sector and students/masters from relevant faculties. The platform is continuously expanding, already featuring internships offered by companies in fields such as insurance, private pensions, capital markets, and more, all eager to welcome young talents. Any company wishing to join the project can do so by accessing the platform,” explained Cătălin Câmpeanu, Deputy Director of ISF.
Main Projects of ISF in Education
1. Academia de Asigurări - Provides an in-depth understanding of the insurance industry. The project is designed to be national in scope, targeting university centers affiliated with ISF, and aims to enhance financial education in the insurance field at a significant level of detail. It involves 25-30 students selected from partner universities through an essay submission and interview process. The “Academia de Asigurări” program, launching in March 2022, includes:
- 8 online learning modules (90 min/120 min) covering all areas of insurance.
- Sessions taught by staff from UNSAR member insurance companies.
- Team work to solve practical problems/case studies.
- At the end of the training sessions, the 6 participant teams will be challenged to present their own projects based on a case study developed by project specialists. A winning team will be selected based on these project presentations. To increase the program's attractiveness, “Academia de Asigurări” offers the following benefits: free vouchers for initial professional training exams for insurance intermediaries to all program participants, free invitations to one UNSAR/ISF event during or after the program to all participants, internships at ISF, UNSAR, UNSAR members – at least 5 positions, 5 free vouchers for ISF courses for insurance intermediaries to the winning team.
2. Supporting Scientific Communication Sessions of Partner Universities - Building on the experience from this spring, ISF reaffirms its commitment to supporting excellence in financial research. ISF and the three partner university centers in the SmartFIN@ISF program have announced the winning projects of students and masters who participated in the scientific communication sessions for the 2020-2021 academic year. The awards, given by ISF, recognized innovation, solid theoretical foundations, and practical value in the financial markets, insurance, private pensions, and capital markets fields. The selection of winning works was challenging, with excellence being the word that best characterizes the presentations by students and masters from partner universities: ASE Bucharest, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași, and the University of Pitești.
3. SmartFin@ISF Seminars and Partnership with ASF Academic Laboratory - This academic year (2021-2022), the vocational training seminar series, part of the SmartFIN@ISF project, will resume. Through this project, ISF aims to support financial education efforts in partnership with Romanian universities by attracting final-year students from bachelor's or master's programs. The goal is to enhance students’ skills and knowledge, preparing them as consumers of financial services and potential employees in financial markets (insurance, banking, private pensions, investments).
4. Equivalence of University Programs - According to current regulations, ISF is developing a methodology for universities to equate master’s/bachelor’s courses/programs with mandatory initial professional training programs for those wishing to engage in insurance distribution activities.
5. Publication of Financial Studies Review - A BDI-indexed journal where predominantly faculty members and PhD students from Romanian universities have published.
6. European Conference on Financial Services (ECFS) 2022 - The organization of the 6th edition is scheduled for March 2022.
About ISF
The Financial Studies Institute (ISF), under the Financial Supervisory Authority, is a center of excellence in studying financial markets and conducting financial education programs to ensure the competencies, skills, and knowledge of financial institution staff and ASF personnel, and to increase the financial literacy of non-banking financial services and product consumers. In the long term, ISF aims to align its activities with European requirements, transitioning from knowledge accumulation to the acquisition and assessment of competencies, providing professional training programs for the non-banking financial sector adapted to new organizational processes driven by legislative demands, market dynamics, and the European framework, contributing to the maturation of the non-banking financial market in Romania, and building its capacity to handle competition driven by globalization or economic crises.
