A Diverse European Week for Falilou and Bianca

THE TWO BOCCONI STUDENTS TALK ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH THE FIRST EUROPEAN WEEK INITIATIVE ORGANISED BY CIVICA ON THE TOPIC OF FINANCIAL LITERACY

From June 8-11, 50 students participated in the first edition of the CIVICA European Week, an immersive and engaging mix of lectures, tutorials and group work centering around the topic of practical household finance.
Held online, and hosted by the Stockholm School of Economics, the initiative saw students from SSE, Sciences Po, Bocconi University and LSE, together with local high-school students, engage together in four intense days on how to promote financial literature and manage one’s financial resources effectively - aiming to raise students’ understanding of this social challenge.
We talked to two students from Bocconi, Falilou Kebe, 21 years old, a Bachelor of Science in Economics & Finance student, and Bianca Carli, 21, a Bachelor of Science in Economics & Management student, who participated in the event to hear their thoughts about this experience:

Why did you apply for the European Week?
Falilou: I strongly believe in social engagement in our society and one of the keywords of the initiative was Diversity: only in a diverse environment, we can drive innovative solutions.
Bianca: I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn in an interactive, group-based and problem-based way and to meet people from other countries in order to expand my network. And the topic, financial literacy, combined two of my main interests - financial decisions and social engagement.

This year's topic was financial literacy. Why is this topic important and how did you work to address it during the European Week?
Falilou: Financial literacy within our society is crucial because, without it, people can make wrong or disadvantaging financial choices for their well-being and lives. During the European Week, I tried to use all available resources; particularly by deepening my knowledge with the academic papers and lectures on the topic.
Bianca: During lectures, we were introduced to financial literacy, which is a wide-spread problem that we should address and acknowledge as a tool to improve the financial health of members of society: by being financially literate, individuals can make rational decisions to better allocate their money. In my case, during the Week, Swedbank asked us to find a solution to the problem of young people not being interested in pension savings. With the help of a tutor, we decided to propose an app which could simulate the benefits of starting pension savings early. 

How did you collaborate with students from other institutions and backgrounds?
Falilou: At first, it was quite strange because we were all strangers to one another and we met only by Zoom. However, over time, we noticed we had completely different backgrounds (Public Policy, Economics, Psychology, and so on) and we decided to take advantage of this diversity by creating a learning environment where everyone could learn from others.
Bianca: I was worried that the virtuality of the meetings would be a problem, but I couldn’t be more wrong: we all participated in an active and propositional way which led to a really good group dynamic. And the different backgrounds of everyone really added to the group discussions.

Tell us about a European Week activity that's left a lasting impression on you and how was it to socialise virtually? 
Falilou: I would say the presentation day when each group exposed their solutions of their assigned business case: particularly, I was impressed by the power of creating teams composed of a diverse range of students. Indeed, each student has different perspectives from which to address the problem and even if we were in front of a camera, I felt the passion and dedication of everyone in preparing their presentations.
Bianca: For sure the final presentation: the fact that we were very proud of our project contributed to the emotion and excitement we had when presenting it to our peers and the representative of Swedbank. And also the social dinner, in which the environment and spirit of an in-presence event was recreated by a series of games, contests and one-on-one interactions that made it easy to socialize and get to know other people.

How do you think the knowledge and skills you gained during the European Week will help you in your future studies?
Falilou: I learned much more about the CIVICA community - its activities, its principles, and its values and I am sure I will refine my studies towards social policy to help disadvantaged communities in their process of social mobility. Additionally, I understood the impact that the lack of financial literature among people can have on the global economic system.
Bianca: It enriched me and made me think outside the box and meeting people with such different backgrounds was a great opportunity for me to consider career paths and future specializations which I wouldn’t have thought about. And the lectures were particularly interesting, spacing between different topics, from financial institutions and bond valuation, to the more social aspect of decision-making such as psychology and game theory.
 
This interview was originally published on the website of CIVICA – The European University of Social Sciences


 
 
 
 
 
 

by Tomaso Eridani