Applications are now open for the new edition of the Raise the Bar Youth educational program, initiated by Coca-Cola HBC Croatia and designed for final-year students in hospitality and tourism secondary schools. The program is taking place for the fifth consecutive year, with this year's edition featuring adapted duration and fully refreshed content, designed on the basis of teachers' recommendations.
The goal of the program is to provide students with additional skills and knowledge that are not covered by the regular school curriculum, helping them enter the job market more successfully and build a career in hospitality and tourism. This year's Raise the Bar Youth includes five online modules covering practical topics essential for personal and professional development – from communication and teamwork to personal finance, event management, and starting one's own business.
What can students expect in the new programme?
- Students will learn about personal finance management alongside one of Croatia's most prominent mathematics teachers, Toni Milun, who will introduce them to the basics of financial literacy and offer practical guidance on saving and avoiding common financial mistakes.
- Young people looking to try their hand at event management in hospitality can look forward to the module of the same name, in which, together with Dunja Ivana Ballon, director of the Dani komunikacija festival, they will discover how to conceptualize and organize a successful event, as well as identify potential issues in time and take steps to prevent them.
- In the Communication module, they will learn how to foster effective communication and recognize and avoid common communication mistakes with colleagues and guests.
- The Teamwork module will show them how to collaborate successfully and how teamwork itself can become one of the key tools in a professional environment.
- For students considering starting their own business, there is also the module on self-employment, which provides basic information on the business startup process and offers an initial insight into the opportunities that self-employment can open up.
The lecturers in the new edition also include some of the best-known names from Croatia's hospitality scene: Dominik Bečvardi, co-owner of the popular Zagreb bar Peaches&Cream and lead lecturer at the Raise the Bar Academy; Anteo Ivanišević, owner of Bar Sistema in Split and co-owner of String's bar; and Marko Gajski, head chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant LD on Korčula.
Valuable prizes await top-performing schools
All modules are available on the platform managed by the Croatian Office for Creativity and Innovation (HUKI). To take part in the program, students need to complete three modules and their accompanying quizzes, while entering the competition requires completing all five modules and the respective quizzes. Valuable prizes await the most successful schools: the first-place school will win
EUR 5,000, the second-place school EUR 3,000, and the third-place school EUR 2,000, while their students will have the opportunity to participate in an exclusive masterclass.
To date, more than 5,000 final-year students have participated in the Raise the Bar Youth programme, and its value has been recognised by the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth and the Presidency of the Association of Hospitality and Tourism Schools of the Republic of Croatia.
Raise the Bar Youth is the third component of the Raise the Bar Adria strategic platform, which aims to align the skills and knowledge of hospitality and tourism workers with the needs of employers. The platform also includes a scholarship program for chefs and pastry chefs, as well as an Academy for waiters, baristas and bartenders who wish to improve their skills and knowledge or start their own business.