COEUR (Competence in Europreneurship)
Business Creativity: A New Educational Challenge for European
Students
Presentation at the XV International Scientific Conference: Human
Capital and Investment in Education
Andrew Turnbull
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland
Prof. Dr. Matthias Eickhoff
Institute for Entrepreneurial Behaviour IUH
Fachhochschule Mainz University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Entrepreneurship Theory
• Entrepreneurship needs to be considered more as an European, not just an US, phenomenon, with local adaptation of the entrepreneurial mindset
• All European societies need to be entrepreneurial with focus on the entrepreneur, developing entrepreneurial people and profitable business opportunities
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

Europreneurship
“Encouragingly, a new business generation is emerging in Europe, with shared aspirations, values and outlooks. The common features among Europe’s 20 and 30-something entrepreneurs are far more striking than the differences”
(Leadbeater and Ussher 1999)
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

Europreneurship
• Europe needs new entrepreneurs, more now than ever!
• Entrepreneurship education is on the increase but the creative/innovation stage lacks focus
• Cross border collaboration and exchange is also desirable – less than 20% of faculty teach internationally
• Sharing of good practice needed, supported by joint research and new materials
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

COEUR
Co
Eur
eur
COEUR offers a platform for a variety of activities, benefits and services for numerous stakeholders:
Conferences
Publications
Benchmarking
Networking
Research and many more…
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

The Initial Idea 1996
”We want to organise a conference, where students from different universities meet in an open atmosphere of initiative, creativity and responsibility to learn with experienced entrepreneurs and to establish a common basis for the entrepreneurial future in a Europe of regions, forming a nucleus for development and change, a junction in a quickly developing
European businessculture.“
Matthias Eickhoff
FH Mainz – University of
Applied Sciences
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
Andrew Turnbull
Robert-Gordon
University, Aberdeen
COEUR Business Creativity Module

COEUR (5 day) Workshops
First held in 2004 in Mainz, Germany and since in 4 other European countries. Also in China and Brazil! 10th conference just completed in Wroclaw, Poland. Now an accredited source of ECTS for participating students.
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

Workshop Focus
• Recognising the role and importance of an entrepreneurial perspective
• Social skills
• Presentation skills
• Intercultural competences
• Language exercise
• Supported by key note speeches, creativity training and idea check ups
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

The COEUR
Business Creativity Module
• ‘Business Creativity’ is a one semester interdisciplinary module focused on problem definition and solution development
• Initially EU sponsored
• Jointly delivered, starting 2007, at 8 European universities (Pol,CZ, F, UK, Por, D and Est)
• Students form intercultural Creative Venture
Teams (CVT) to develop entrepreneurial ideas with European dimension
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

The Business Evolution Process
(Eickhoff & Jakob, 2004)
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and
Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

The COEUR-Basis
Process orientation
Business
Creativity
Euro-
Preneurship
Experience creativity and entrepreneurial learning in intercultural teams
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

Entrepreneurship Education
• Business planning already integrated into teaching programmes
• Business creativity and business development remain less well catered for
• Different tasks require different approaches and tools and all stages of new business evolution should be covered
• Innovation and creativity increasingly important in terms of responsiveness to unpredictable change
• Marketing mostly refers to deterministic or (based on
Marketing Research) stochastic change
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

Delivery and Feedback
• The module is now well established via e-learning platforms (Wimba/Skype) and real life classes
• Virtual groups complete the assignments
• 76% of (UK) students rated the module ‘very good’
• Less than 5% rated it poor overall, but some concerns were expressed about liaison and contact with students in other countries
• Assessment mechanisms combine practice and theory, with written and verbal elements
• Underlying concept and principles are understood and welcomed
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

Delivery and Feedback
“A really enjoyable module ... I would thoroughly recommend the whole experience to other students”
... although:
“The module is a brilliant idea but students in different countries were often difficult to get hold of and had different priorities”
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module

European Growth
A ‚leverage-effect‘ should serve to spread the COEUR-idea in Europe:
European coverage is not expected by growth of the network but by multiplication of university networks !
Competition and cooperation have been experienced
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and
Investment in Education COEUR Business Creativity Module

Thank you for your attention! Thank you VSFS!
For further information please contact a.turnbull@rgu.ac.uk or matthias.eickhoff@wiwi.fh-mainz.de
XV International Scientific
Conference: Human Capital and
Investment in Education
COEUR Business Creativity Module