Business Simulations for Students

Q: Which degree programmes at WSZiB Krakow use Revas simulations?

The simulations are used in the Digital Marketing, Management, and Finance and Accounting degree programmes.

Q: What skills can students develop through business simulations?

Students develop skills in data analysis, decision-making, strategic thinking, planning, communication, teamwork, and assessing the consequences of their decisions.

Q: What is the instructor’s role during simulation-based classes?

The instructor acts as a mentor and facilitator. They support students in analysing situations and drawing conclusions while allowing participants to take responsibility for making their own decisions.

How business simulations develop students’ skills at WSZiB

Country

Poland

University

Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania i Bankowości in Cracow

Programme / Course

Digital Marketing,
Management,
Finance and Accounting

Simulation

Accounting services

Digital marketing agency

Client

University of Management and Banking in Cracow (WSZiB) is a practically oriented university that consistently develops modern teaching methods, combining academic knowledge with real-world business experience. The university’s strategy is based on cooperation with businesses, the implementation of innovative teaching approaches, and the development of skills that today’s employers expect.

At WSZiB, modern education means not only transferring knowledge but, above all, preparing students to make decisions, think critically, collaborate effectively, and operate in a dynamically changing professional environment. This is why practical and digital teaching methods are among the university’s key areas of development.

Challenge

As a practically oriented university, WSZiB wanted to prepare its students even more effectively for the demands of today’s job market.

While traditional classes provided students with theoretical knowledge, they did not always offer enough opportunities to develop the skills required in everyday professional life – such as analysing data, making decisions, justifying their choices, and taking responsibility for the consequences.

The university was looking for a way to let students make decisions in a realistic business environment, analyse the consequences of their actions, develop analytical and strategic skills, learn to work effectively in teams, and make mistakes in a safe environment and learn from them.

Area of Development	What Students Practice
Decision-making	They choose actions in a realistic, virtual business environment and observe their consequences.
Data analysis	They interpret results, market and financial data, and use them in subsequent rounds.
Strategic thinking	They plan actions, assess risk, and consider the consequences of decisions for the whole company.
Collaboration	They discuss, argue their positions, and develop solutions in teams.
Learning from mistakes	They test decisions under controlled conditions and draw conclusions from the results.

Solution

Pursuing its vision of practice-oriented education, WSZiB built Revas Business Simulation Games into its study programmes in Digital Marketing, Management, and Finance and Accounting.

Students use the Interactive Agency and Accounting Office simulations during their classes, managing virtual companies, analysing results, making business decisions and observing the consequences in later rounds. Classes run for 8 to 12 hours online, with the instructor acting as a mentor and facilitator rather than a lecturer, supporting students as they analyse situations, draw conclusions and make their own decisions. How the classes are paced, mentored and tied back into each programme’s learning outcomes is the university’s own course design, built with the simulation as its practical core.

As Aneta Ziółkowska, PhD, Professor at WSZiB and Vice-Rector for Education and Research, puts it: “Business simulations align with the university’s vision of creating an active learning environment. They demonstrate that modern education should go beyond simply delivering content and enable students to experience the consequences of their own actions.”

Magdalena Kowalska-Musiał, PhD, Professor at WSZiB and Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, adds: “Simulations are worth introducing when they are clearly aligned with programme learning outcomes. Their key advantage is the opportunity to learn in a controlled environment. A well-designed simulation simultaneously develops knowledge, practical skills, and social competencies.”

Results

Greater student engagement
Students quickly become engaged because they can immediately see the consequences of their decisions. Gamification and teamwork make the classes dynamic and challenging.
Data-driven business decisions
In each round, students draw on previous results, market and financial data, and forecasts for the company’s future, learning to make more informed decisions, justify their choices and weigh the consequences of different actions.
Skills aligned with labour market needs
Working through the simulation, students build skills employers look for: data analysis, strategic thinking, planning, decision-making, communication, teamwork, responsibility for results and learning from mistakes.
A better understanding of how a business works
Students come to see how the different parts of a company connect – how a marketing decision can affect sales, costs, cash flow or staffing – and learn to analyse a company as a whole rather than from a single department’s point of view.

Summary

At WSZiB, students across Digital Marketing, Management, and Finance and Accounting learn to make business decisions, not just study them, using Revas Business Simulation Games as the practical core of that approach. That shift, from theory to reasoning about a business as a connected system, is what the university set out to build when it brought simulation into its programmes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What business simulations does WSZiB Krakow use?

The University of Management and Banking in Krakow uses Revas Business Simulation Games: Business Management – Interactive Agency and Accounting Office.

Which degree programmes at WSZiB Krakow use Revas simulations?

The simulations are used in the Digital Marketing, Management, and Finance and Accounting degree programmes.

What skills can students develop through business simulations?

Students develop skills in data analysis, decision-making, strategic thinking, planning, communication, teamwork, and assessing the consequences of their decisions.

What is the instructor’s role during simulation-based classes?