09.05.2025
At an official ceremony in Kaunas, Lithuania, Assoc. Prof. Boryana Pelova, was awarded a prize for introduced educational innovation. The international university alliance Transform4Europe recognized the teaching model „GOALS for Future-Ready Professionals: A Transformative Learning Model” within a contest dedicated to innovations in the education. The model is awarded in the category “Active Teaching”.
Altogether 45 candidates from 11 European universities applied for the Transform4Europe Innovative Teaching award. Assoc. Prof. Pelova’s nomination was given a total score of 76 points out of 83, which ranked the proposal among the 4 winning projects in this contest. The awarded prize distinguishes the leading role of Alma Mater in the development and implementation of innovative teaching practices that impact society. It is an international recognition of the quality of the results achieved to date.
Assoc. Prof. Pelova shared insights on the GOALS model methodology at the international conference „Exchanging Professional Excellence: Synergy of Academic and Non-Academic Staff“. The conference was organized by T4EU in Kaunas, Lithuania, during the period 9-11 April. The emphasis on the presentation of Assoc. Prof. Pelova was put on the teaching steps of the model.
The use case for the presented methodology is “Quantitative Methods in Finance”, developed by Assoc. Prof. Boryana Pelova. The course content and learning is supported by Experian Bulgaria. During the first course week students set learning goals for the semester. The course concludes with a self-reflection essay on the achieved results in terms of the preset goals.
During the semester students complete assignments on a weekly basis, followed by in-class discussions of their solutions. In the second half of the semester students are introduced to a case study that facilities them later on when they work with a real-world business problem, provided by the team of Experian Bulgaria. Students work in teams in order to deliver their solution to the business case and present their results in the company’s office. All teams are given both business and academic feedback on their performance.
Damyan Iliev, Senior Finance Manager, Global Financial Services, Experian Bulgaria, who initiates the innovative partnership with FEBA and is a lecturer in the course for many years shared his impressions on the achieved results: „It is our privilege to collaborate with our partners at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Sofia University. We aim to increase and maximize the engagement towards the development of students. Their abilities and motivation demonstrated during their project work are impressive and indicative for high proficiency. We are convinced that this collaboration will continue to shape future leaders and professionals, ready to manage the challenges of today’s business world“.
Assoc. Prof. Pelova commented on the achieved results: “The model assures increased motivation, goals-oriented learning, development of both theoretical and applied skills along with soft skills and personal growth, necessary for successful and satisfying career. The model is a tool that supports proper theory understanding, even when the theory is challenging and facilitates its application for solving real business problems”.
Assoc. Prof. Boryana Pelova launched her work on the development of the innovative teaching model as well as on the methodology for its practical implementation 9 years ago. At that time the FEBA Career Center was established and as its director she has been actively working to bridge the gap between academia and business. Among the various connecting activities, she introduced an innovative teaching model aimed to deliver synergy between theory, science, and development of applied problem-solving skills via integration of real-life case studies, developed in collaboration with leading business in Bulgaria.
The GOALS model is successfully implemented in higher education as well as it is adapted for high school level and it is currently applied in Coding Burgas, affiliated school to Sofia University.
The innovative teaching experience embedded in the GOALS model will be shared at the annual job fair of Sofia University in Burgas, 12-14 May. The event will be on 13-May, at 3 PM in the lecture hall of Sofia University – Branch Burgas within the panel “Innovative teaching practices”.