Hosted at the Mermaid Theatre London on the 20th of June, EEE Project International Launch brought together a diverse group of practitioners, researchers, policy makers and program managers from across the world. The event was held alongside the University Industry Interaction Conference that allowed the dissemination of project results to larger groups of audiences. The launch program was designed in three sections; the panel Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education – Global Experiences, EEE Project introduction and showcasing of results, and the interactive Workshop Fostering Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education, a mix of activities that combined learning, knowledge exchange and hands-on practice.

The Global Experiences session started off with short presentations by the panellists, Ingrid Wakkee, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Rodney Ridley, Executive Director of Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise & Entrepreneurship at Wilkes University and Silvia McCormack, Acting Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor at La Trobe University Australia. During their presentations, the panellists elaborated on the status-quo of the entrepreneurial education in their institutions, success factors, and challenges they tackle in establishing working structures. The diversity of speaker profiles and experiences led to lively discussions between the participants and the experts, with leading questions addressing e.g. assessment of entrepreneurship education, motivation of academics to adopt new approaches to teaching, expansion of entrepreneurial teaching and mindset across all study fields, and culture of start-up failure in European vs. American context.

This session was followed by EEE project introduction and showcasing of the results presented by Florian Bratzke of Univations GmbH, who provided information about the project timeline, outputs and the nature of the stakeholder interaction in the Halle region, in Germany. Further input into the project outputs and regional impact was provided by Christine Pirhofer from Management Center Innsbruck (MCI), and Szabolcs Pronay from the University of Szeged, representatives of the two university partners of the project consortium. These presentations provided a deeper insight into the individual journeys of the institutions during project development and implementation, as well as informing the audience on the most recent advancements in Szeged, and in the region of Tirol, concerning stakeholder collaboration and start-up ecosystems.

The third component of the international launch program, the workshop Fostering Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education was facilitated by Thorsten Kliewe, in a structure that followed three steps of group work: identification of current challenges in the promotion of entrepreneurship education, development of scaling and funding proposal ideas, and pitching of the developed ideas to the audience. The exercise attracted interest of the participants, due to its interactive nature that fostered discussions on institutional challenges, exchange of experiences, and generation of joint solutions to the common problems identified.

The major challenges addressed by the groups included difficulties with expanding the reach of the entrepreneurial education across all disciplines, lack of opportunities offered to PhDs in adopting an entrepreneurial approach to translate their research into business models, and unavailability of assessment models for entrepreneuial teaching and learning at the universities. This phase was followed by the groups having another round of discussions on whether there is an existing approach that might address these challenges, or fresh new ideas have to be developed. In the last step, the teams visualised their solutions on flip charts, and pitched them to the other team members for further opinion and feedback.

The workshop was concluded with a call for attention to the development of soft skills, and recognition of it by the higher education institutions. When integrated into the curriculum, not as an add-on course or an isolated content but rather an embedded skill present in all subjects, entrepreneurship can find a ground to florish among learners and staff, both as a mindset and a valuable competence.

While the project is approaching to the end of its lifetime, the outputs presented in the EEE platform will be kept updated. Stay tuned!

University of Szeged has recently held its national launch where the audience could get an insight about the challenges and opportunities of nowadays young (Generation Z) entrepreneurs and the ways how their competences can be fostered. The EEE event was attended by over 50 regional business partners, stakeholders, academics and students. The focus of the event was the EEE specialized course, that involved local entrepreneurs as lecturers and mentors of the students. In the plenary session four presentations were delivered by project representatives, students and external stakeholders of the EEE semester program.

In his presentation Dr. Norbert Buzas has focused on the function of accelerators, characteristics of modern day entrepreneurs, and approaches to provide this new generation of entrepreneurs the best assistance during their development. Márk Olajos a young entrepreneur, who was involved as a mentor in the EEE course, highlighted the main challenges that nowadays Generation Y and Z entrepreneurs are facing. The third presenter Dr. Szabolcs Pronay introduced the EEE Teaching Toolkit to the audience, describing the methodology to be followed in successfully integrating the modules into the course programs, as well as indicating the potential barriers that can be faced in the process. The last presenter of the plenary session was Attila Tóth – a student who participated in the EEE semester course. He highlighted how the course learnings have had an impact on students’ mindset and equipped him with the right skills to successfully launch his start-up (called: Pricemind). The plenary session was followed by a workshop on the pathways to integrate regional stakeholders in entrepreneurial course program development and delivery.

Following plenary sessions and the workshop, in the afternoon, there was a joint event, the national final of a new presentation challenge, called “Prezilimpia – the Presentation Olympics”. This new challenge was co-organized and co-hosted by the Hungarian EEE team and it aimed to foster the presentation and pitching skills of the young entrepreneurs. 8 young entrepreneurs competed in front of the jury of local entrepreneurs and professional presenters. With this joined event a county-wide audience was reached and the program of the EEE National Launch was boosted to a full-day program about young (Generation Z) entrepreneurs, that also generated a larger media coverage.

© All rights for the images used in this post belong to the University of Szeged

“Entrepreneurship is when you act upon opportunities and ideas and transform them into value for others. The value that is created can be financial, cultural, or social”- with this opening definition EntreComp Into Action User Guide invites its readers on a journey to explore outstanding case studies, tools and ideas that have successfully employed the Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp) of the European Commission inside the European Union. We are honoured that the EEE Teaching Toolkit has been selected by the responsible committee as one of the good practice examples in the tools section of the user guide.

What is EntreComp and EntreComp Into Action User Guide?

In brief, EntreComp has been developed to provide a coherent conceptual understanding for entrepreneurship education inside the EU. As such, the framework sets the ground for identifying relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes that comprise “entrepreneurial mindset”, and observes it through three major competence areas, which are subdivided  into 15 competences each:

1) Ideas & Opportunities,

2) Resources, and

3) Into Action.

EntreComp Into Action User Guide has been devised to navigate individuals and organizations that aspire to develop entrepreneurial competences through lifelong learning, formal/non-formal teaching and training activities, as well as in working environment. The Guide provides a comprehensive introduction to EntreComp and highlights 70 outstanding examples that have successfully implemented the framework. These case studies, tools and ideas reflect on the ways entrepreneurial learning can be integrated across various sectors and for different audiences.

How is the EEE Teaching Toolkit connected to EntreComp?

Successfully serving its purpose, EntreComp provided a clear structural guidance for the development of 23 combinable teaching modules that compose the EEE Teaching Toolkit. As a matter of fact, the EEE Teaching Toolkit is a powerful entrepreneurship education instrument to:

  • Embed and facilitate entrepreneurial teaching and learning in HEIs,
  • Provide guidance for HEI lecturers and curriculum planners,
  • Sensitise HEI staff with non-business backgrounds for the added-value of entrepreneurship education,
  • Catalyse the inclusion of entrepreneurship education into HEI curricula,
  • Involve stakeholders of the entrepreneurial eco-system in practically driven entrepreneurship courses.

Incorporating the EntreComp competences framework, EEE Teaching Toolkit reflects on the main dimensions needed for educating successful entrepreneurs.  It translates the core ideas behind the EntreComp framework into practical exercises, that aims at “nurturing a new generation of entrepreneurs” in line with the goals of Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan. With its outputs and specifically EEE Teaching Toolkit, EEE project makes a significant contribution to EU policy to “stimulate the development of entrepreneurial, creative and innovation skills in all disciplines in all three circles”(2011 Agenda for the Modernization of Europe’s HE Systems).

 

 

©all rights on images used in this article belong to European Commission 

On the 2nd March 2018, interested students were invited to attend a Q&A kick-off event dedicated to MCI Creativity Award 2018. The event took place at ‘BASE EINS’, a startup hub in front of the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, and was organized by MCI in collaboration with Startup.Tirol, the centerpiece of the EEE Regional Alliance in Tyrol. During this event, the students has a chance to learn every detail of how to prepare for a business competition based on the corresponding module ‘Idea Competition’ in the EEE Teaching Toolkit.

The module ‘Idea Competition’, freely accessible here, is designed primarily for the individuals experimenting with entrepreneurial activities for the first time. It has the aim to foster entrepreneurial ideas coming from different fields and supports also individuals who have not yet made experiences with entrepreneurship or management before, in sharing, spreading and eventually also commercializing their ideas. HEI educators can use the materials of the course to enrich the existing or create new entrepreneurship education courses.

The idea competition module consists of two parts. The aim of part one is to give an overview on how an idea competition could look like, how such competition might be structured and organized. The purpose of part two of this idea competition module is to support students in preparing for a successful participation in an idea competition.

In addition to module ‘Idea Competition’, EEE Teaching Toolkit offers two more modules: Course 1: Improving Entrepreneurial Skills, and Course 3: Encouraging Social Entrepreneurship, which are freely available at our Resource Platform.

 

A practical approach has been introduced at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, to teach and encourage students from different disciplines to become entrepreneurs.

The course promoting entrepreneurial thinking has taken place in the international Erasmus+ framework. One of the most important missions of the European Union is to encourage the younger generation to become entrepreneurs. Therefore, university students, who represent a high proportion of the young generation, provide an excellent basis to whom entrepreneurship can be promoted.

Why exactly in Szeged?

The University of Szeged is one of the biggest Hungarian universities. There are 25,000 students studying different sciences at its 12 Faculties. Not only the students from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration can become entrepreneurs. It is becoming more and more important that students from other disciplines gain insight into entrepreneurship. Due to the diversity of disciplines at the University of Szeged and the successful Master’s Business Development training program at the Faculty of Economics, the experimental course has good foundations to be implemented in the future.

Novelty of the course: the attractiveness of entrepreneurial examples

The traditional university programmes are based on a course or seminar, where instructors teach and students take notes. At the end of each semester, students take the appropriate tests. Though more and more courses in the topic of becoming entrepreneurs leave the traditional teaching method behind, they do not always prove to be successful. The organizers of this new course tried to rethink the traditional teaching model based on their previous experiences.

Students could apply with a covering letter and with an introduction of an entrepreneurial idea. The aim of the organizers was to attract only those students, who are serious about becoming entrepreneurs and are willing to take part in courses for their professional development. They wanted to deter those students, who would only have participated in the course for collecting additional credits.

Regarding teachers, organizers invited those people, who are entrepreneurs themselves and have a practice in teaching, or they included those teachers, who have real and first-hand experience on the market. Therefore, they would be able to transfer their own market experience to students. Entrepreneurs and teachers have both participated in the organisation and implementation. Almost 30 entrepreneurs and teachers took part in the course who received a teaching toolkit developed during the EEE course.

From apartment-restaurants to co-working offices

Students worked on 5 project ideas. Based on these ideas, students had to develop and introduce a complete business plan at the end of the semester. Some students had to change the concept of their business, because they had encountered certain problems which could have undermined the basic aim of their enterprise. This happened in case of the co-working office, which was an apartment-restaurant concept originally.

Throughout the course, students worked on the development of a business software, which could monitor the different prices on web shops. Others were concerned with the development of a software, providing financial contribution for animal shelters, while another group worked on a local craft beer manufactory and a social pub-finder application. The final business plans were presented in front of a professional board. The members of the board did not see the completed concepts before. Therefore, they could evaluate the concepts without bias and could provide feedback for the students.

The Facebook page containing the course’s final presentations and pictures can be found on the following link.

 

© All rights on images used in this article belong to University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.

 

The Teaching Toolkit is one of the main outputs of the EEE project addressing HEI lecturers and curriculum developers who want to support entrepreneurial teaching efforts in their HEIs. Not only does it incorporate state of the art teaching recommendations and guidelines for a total of 23 modules, but also provides three full courses on Entrepreneurship Education. Moreover, it is structurally aligned to the progressive Entrepreneurship Competence Framework that was developed and introduced by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in 2016.

On 14th December 2017, one of the modules of the Entrepreneurship Education Toolkit was piloted by the Start-Up Service of Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg as part of a lecture series on key qualifications for entrepreneurial thinking and acting. The piloted module, “Opportunities”, explores the trends as a source of inspiration to find the possibilities for entrepreneurial activities and the development of high-potential business ideas that may ultimately lead students to start up their own company. The module proposes the reading material and theoretical tasks for students, and highlights the topics for discussion for the trend analysis. The module conveniently offers the sources for the educators to exemplify and enhance students’ theoretical understanding of “entrepreneurial opportunities”, as well as suggestions for assessment.

The module has received positive feedback from both educators and students who participated in the lecture series. EEE representatives welcomed the valuable feedback received after the completion of the pilot test and will use it to further optimize the existing version of the EEE Teaching Toolkit.

 

©all rights on logo used in the image belong to the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg

Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) successfully introduced EEE project and the first project outputs to the regional entrepreneurial community and wider public at the Innsbruck Startup Festival and the innovation workshop.   

For a day, the old city of Innsbruck transformed itself from a historic neighbourhood to a modern entrepreneurial hub together with The Startup Festival, organized by Startup.Euregio. On 24 November, 2017, the pop-up start-up focal point ‘BASE EINS’ united more than 200 students, investors, start-ups, experts and other individuals passionate about fostering entrepreneurship in Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino. As an active participant, Management Center Innsbruck showcased its activities and recent outcomes, which have been well received by the visitors.

‘Innopun(s)ch’ workshop

A week after, on 1 December, 2017, EEE project was highlighted at yet another engaging event – ‘Innopun(s)ch’ workshop by MCI and Werkstaette Wattens. 20 participants from different backgrounds came together to discuss latest topics in the field of innovation management. A special focus has been laid on interactivity and practice to not only understand, but ‘feel’ and ‘touch’ innovation. Modules from the Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit have been employed in order to enrich the workshop and enhance the experience of its participants.

On November 30, 2017 Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences opened its doors for the 6th stakeholder meeting of the EEE regional alliance in Halle/Saale, Germany. In addition to discussing further strategies for strengthening the co-operation within the alliance, the regional EEE project’s stakeholders were introduced to the latest version of the Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit – a compilation of effective methodological and functional approaches to embed entrepreneurship in the academic curriculum design. 

The Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit offers a variety of possibilities to improve students’ entrepreneurial skills and allows for academics’ creativity in curriculum design through its modular structure. The developed modules – hence tools – focus on fostering students’ individual entrepreneurial competences to support innovative thinking and start-up creation both in theory and practice. Moreover, the toolkit includes course materials and case studies that can be customized for student-business and social entrepreneurship courses. The Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit also promotes external engagement and involvement of the business sector in educational programs at higher education institutions.  The online version of the toolkit can be accessed here.

The toolkit has received positive feedback from EEE project regional stakeholders. In fact, Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences currently aims to revisit curricular content to incorporate entrepreneurship education course modules and related learning outcomes into selected programmes. In this respect, EEE project has noticeably promoted the awareness and motivation to incorporate entrepreneurial education in academic curricula for this specific institution. The next step will be an establishment of the constructive dialogue among the internal university stakeholders on potential integration of EEE project resources into the teaching activities of the university. The EEE team of Univations GmbH has agreed to support this dialogue by further promoting the toolkit and explaining its underlying methodology to relevant stakeholders.

Univations successfully pilot-tested one of the EEE Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit course modules, the business model canvas during the Entrepreneurship Summer School “Geist 21”. Organised by the ThermHex Waben GmbH, one of the leading lightweight composition material producers in Halle, the event Geist 21 hosted a large number of participants from diverse backgrounds, e.g. engineering, business studies, design, and IT who has interest in new materials and the desire to found an enterprise. The international nature of the program has attracted an enthusiastic audience from across the world, including India, Iran, and Egypt.

Concerning further exploitation of the Entrepreneurship Teaching Toolkit, the collaboration continues with Martin-Luther-University (MLU) for the piloting off the EEE teaching modules. In fact, the EEE regional alliance Halle now focuses on the start of the winter term in Saxony-Anhalt in which EEE resources might be integrated into regular teaching activities as well as into the program of the upcoming Entrepreneurship week from 13.11.-17.11.2017. The University staff have already signalled their will to use resources of the EEE Teaching Toolkit, and by this support to further support the entrepreneurship promotion campaign of EEE that will be launched at the beginning of the next year.

Furthermore, the EEE team Halle upholds its efforts to enlarge the regional alliance for entrepreneurship education in Saxony-Anhalt. Florian Bratzke, European Project Officer at Univations GmbH, met with officials from the University of Applied Sciences Merseburg in September to introduce EEE objectives as well as to discuss possible ways of involvement in the regional alliance. Furthermore, Mr. Bratzke took chance to discuss the content and structure of the EEE Teaching Toolkit with the present HEI teaching staff as well as the idea of a state-wide entrepreneurship summer camp. In fact, Dr. Henn – Head of start-up service – explicitly pronounced her interest to further deepen the cooperation with EEE team of Univations to foster entrepreneurial aspiration of students and to better equip HEI staff with high-quality resources to facilitate their efforts in entrepreneurial teaching.

Officials from University of Applied Sciences Merseburg have agreed to check possible ways to support the piloting of EEE resources by integrating them into the entrepreneurial teaching activities of the start-up service in the upcoming winter term.