Fostering Entrepreneurship
among young people through
education: a EU perspective
Simone Baldassarri
Unit “Entrepreneurship”
Policy Background
• Recommendation of the European Parliament and the
Council (2006): entrepreneurship a key competence for all.
• Commission
Communication
entrepreneurial mindsets” (2006)
on
“Fostering
• Oslo Agenda on Entrepreneurship Education in Europe
(2007): a detailed menu of actions
• Small Business Act for Europe (2008)
• EU 2020 strategy: focus school curricula on creativity,
innovation and entrepreneurship (2010)
The choice of status: self-employed or employee
being self-employed
Eurobarometer:
Entrepreneurial
attitudes in
Europe
CY
EL
RO
FR
PT
IT
BG
PL
IE
LT
SI
UK
LV
EU27
LU
EE
NL
FI
AT
HU
DE
ES
MT
SE
CZ
DK
BE
SK
IS
TR
HR
CH
NO
being an employee
66
60
41
46
39
39
39
43
50
43
48
52
48
49
51
46
55
54
55
52
56
52
56
63
62
65
61
65
52
51
38
46
43
43
41
32
11
6 2
22
8 2
5 5
9 2
4 4
01
4 4
32
12
4 3
3 3
32
6 5
12
32
22
5 3
22
6 2
5 3
23
2 4
21
4 5
4 5
1
36
71
51
9
31
6 3
2 5
1 4
48
50
53
55
39
DK/NA
29
37
52
51
51
51
50
49
49
49
47
46
45
45
44
43
42
41
41
41
41
40
36
32
32
32
30
26
US
CN
KR
JP
none of these
9
28
37
59
11
1
01
2
20
Q1. Suppose you could choose between different kinds of jobs, which one
would you prefer?
Base: all respondents, by country
Open method of co-ordination
Lisbon: assessment of national progress reports
Specific tools: expert groups, studies, dialogue
with governments and stakeholders, benchmarking,
monitoring of progress, organisation of events.
Objectives:
• To promote the exchange and dissemination of
good practice;
• To steer policy action in the EU Member States
Definition of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into
action.
It includes
• creativity,
• innovation and
• risk taking,
• as well as the ability to plan and manage projects
in order to achieve objectives.
This
• supports everyone in day-to-day life at home and in society,
• makes employees more aware of the context of their work and better
able to seize opportunities,
• and provides a foundation for entrepreneurs establishing a social or
commercial activity
(2006 Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning)
Current State
•Mainly individual initiatives, with no coherent framework
and little impact
•Most students do not have access to entrepreneurship
courses and programmes.
• Entrepreneurship is included in the national curriculum
only in a minority of EU countries (i.e. ES, FI, IE, CY, PL, UK)
• Typically, less than 15 % of secondary schools offer student
mini-company activities
• Around 16% of students participating to mini-companies at
school will later go on to create their own company
Objectives of student companies
A) Develop on a small scale a real economic activity
• Students raise capital and prepare a business plan
• They produce or order the product made to their design
• Students sell real products or services,
B) Simulate in a realistic way the operations of firms
• Students work in a fictitious company
• They run all business and administrative activities that are
typical of a real company.
Skills acquired
Personal skills:
Business skills:
• Team working
• Basic economics
• Communication
• Financial literacy
• Self-confidence
• Developing market research
• Taking initiative
• Drafting a business plan
• Problem-solving
• Raising finance
• Taking calculated risk
• Sales techniques
• Leadership
• Running a business meeting
Share of secondary schools participating
in mini-company programmes
60
50
40
30
20
10
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Entrepreneurship in HE
• Entrepreneurship is not sufficiently integrated in the
curriculum of HEIs
• More than half of the student population in Europe do not
have access to Entrepreneurship Education
• The majority of entrepreneurship courses are offered in
business and economic studies
• Chances of being exposed to EE are higher when the
student is enrolled in a business school or a multidisciplinary
institution with a business school.
Problems/Obstacles (1)
• Shortage of funding
• Too few professors of entrepreneurship
• Little incentive and reward for teachers
• Faculties and departments tend to work separately
• Mobility between HEIs and business is low
Problems/Obstacles (2)
• Most teachers have little or no practical experience
of being entrepreneurs
• At universities it is difficult to include business
people in the permanent staff
• Few entrepreneurs are engaged in the full curricula
experience
• HEIs are not sufficiently involved in working with
alumni
Some good practice examples
• Technical University of Munich (DE):
Entrepreneurial University (in all disciplines);
the
• University of Strathclyde (UK): entrepreneurship for
students of music;
• Dublin Institute of Technology (IRL): traditional
exam replaced by the organization of a charity event;
• Lahti University of Applied Science (FI): linking
students with business owners looking for a
successor.
Vocational Education
• Entrepreneurship is included in the national curricula for
vocational education in a majority of EU countries
• 10 countries report that 90% to 100% of vocational
education students participate to entrepreneurship
programmes at some point in their studies.
However…
• Even where entrepreneurship is included in national
curricula, there a perception of a gap still to be filled.
• Despite some encouraging data, the uptake and
effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in vocational
schools are still far from being fully satisfactory.
Vocational Education
Reasons for the identified gap are:
• ineffective teaching methods;
• entrepreneurship is not included in all parts of the VET
system;
• limited participation of students;
• inadequate teachers’ competence;
• lack of involvement of business people;
• the practical element is missing;
• entrepreneurship is not linked to specific training subjects
on professions.
Vocational Education
Most commonly used teaching methods reported:
• Lectures
• Computer simulations and business games
• Student companies
• Project work and group work
• Company visits
• Work placements
(Less frequently: coaching and mentoring; role plays;
discussions and brainstorming; case studies)
Vocational Education
• Perception of a gap between teaching methods
used and those considered as the most effective
• Most teachers
entrepreneurship
have
not
been
trained
in
• Cooperation between vocational schools and
enterprises is in general well developed
(particularly in « dual systems »)
• But it is difficult to involve small and micro
enterprises
Factors of Success in Delivery
•
Well-defined objectives and appropriate evaluations
•
Good balance between theory and practice: programme is
action-oriented, based on experience and project work
•
Teaching adapted to the specific field of vocational studies
•
The institution has external links with enterprises
•
Students take part in extra-curricular activities and events
•
Teachers have a qualification in entrepreneurship
•
Students and teachers are stimulated to look beyond the
borders of school environment
•
Support mechanisms in place for students to start up
Recommendations (1)
Public authorities:
• Set up a national steering committee
• Introduce entrepreneurship in the curriculum
• Career guidance mandatory, including entrepreneurship
• Provide counselling for schools and teachers in designing
VET curricula
• Improve teachers’ qualifications
• Support non-profit organizations / NGOs
• Grant micro-scholarships to innovative and brilliant students
Recommendations (2)
Schools:
• An “enterprise champion” or a teacher may take the lead
• Extend entrepreneurship to all fields of
entrepreneurship to training in specific fields
study:
link
• Practical aspect: use methods based on real experience
• Involve businesses in the process
• Organize talks and seminars by entrepreneurs (motivation)
• Teachers:
ensure
access
internships in enterprises.
to
training
and
guidance,
High Level Reflection Panels on
Entrepreneurship Education
Two key needs:
1)
Increase co-operation between government
administrations – especially those responsible
for education and enterprise - and with
stakeholders on entrepreneurship education;
2)
Develop more systematic
entrepreneurship education.
strategies
for
High Level Reflection Panels
1° Panel (London, 16-17 March 09): Belgium, France,
Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, UK, Iceland.
2° Panel (Stockholm, 23-24 April 09): Denmark, Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden.
3° Panel (Prague, 25-26 June 09): Austria, Czech
Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland.
4° Panel (Rome, 15-16 October 09): Bulgaria, Spain, Italy,
Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia.
5° Panel (Zagreb, 18-19 March 2010): countries of preaccession and Southern Neighborhood region.
Outcomes
• Current state of play: especially the development
of strategies and their implementation
• A framework for strategy building, using a
progression model.
• A 'cook book' of good practices which show how to
address key areas within the progression model
• Recommendations for action at EU level to support
developments within Member States.
Elements of a strategy (1)
• Agreed definition of entrepreneurship
• Cross-ministry cooperation
• Stakeholder consultation
• Embed core competences into the national
curriculum
• Develop strategic aims and objectives
Elements of a strategy (2)
• Integrate identified good practices (what
works) into the strategy
• Train the teachers
• Develop a logic chain of indicators, outputs,
outcomes and expected impact
• Design and embed coherent progression
from primary to higher education
• Make resources available for the strategy
Some good examples
• Finland and Norway: the entrepreneurship strategy was
jointly developed by different ministries
• Netherlands and UK: government funded pilot projects
in schools, then disseminated resulting good practice
• Luxembourg: the programme for all primary schools has
a section on starting up a business based on a cartoon
• Spain: in Asturias, secondary school students run
import-export mini-companies as part of the regional
curriculum
Key Issues (1)
• High importance of involving teachers (maintain a
broad definition of Entrepreneurship)
 Shift from 'how to run a business' to how to develop a
general set of competences applicable in all walks of life
• Key elements for supporting the role of teachers:
 Develop research on how teachers approach E.E.
 Offer initial and continuous teacher training
 Create and disseminate teaching contents, tools,
methods and materials
 Make space in the curriculum for testing new methods
 Establish support networks
Key Issues (2)
• Make entrepreneurship an integral part of the
Curriculum:
 Key role for ministries of education
 Changes in teaching methods: experiential learning,
teacher as a facilitator, coach, moderator
 Changes in education context: take students out of the
classroom (into local community and real businesses)
 Combine a mandatory cross-curricular approach with a
selectable training as a specific subject
Key Issues (3)
• Engage businesses:
 Visits, experiences, case studies and role models
 Student mini-companies with business mentors
• Engage intermediary organizations:
 Many NGOs play already a key role
 External organizations devoted to promoting E.E. can be
effectively associated with national strategies
• Link E.E. into local and regional strategies
 Develop partnerships
 Build local and regional support centres
Role for the EU
• Push and accelerate policy development in the MS
• Act as a catalyst: observatory and hub for research
• Build a platform for the exchange of information,
teaching methods and good practices
• Support training of teachers, and the development
and dissemination of didactic material
• Provide funding for specific projects (through LLP,
ESF, etc.)
CIP funded projects
Call for proposals: Entrepreneurial culture of young people,
and entrepreneurship education
Aim: to support the implementation of the Small Business Act
(Principle 1) and of the Oslo Agenda for Entrepreneurship
Education in Europe .
Objective: to promote winning ideas in the field of education
for entrepreneurship and in improving the entrepreneurial
mindsets of the European youth.
Number of selected projects : 9
Starting date: December 2009
Thematic areas
• Establish a European summer academy
entrepreneurship professors in higher education
for
• Develop practice-based teaching material on
entrepreneurship, in particular by using real cases.
• Foster entrepreneurship among female university
graduates
• Foster the entrepreneurial mindsets of young
people outside the educational environment (e.g.
competitions, awards, promotional campaigns, etc.)
CIP projects (1)
Objective:
Establishing a cross-European workshop programme
for entrepreneurship professors in higher education
to share knowledge and learn from practitioners
(Entrepreneurship Summer Academy).
Number of projects: 2
Duration: 3 years
University partners:
1) Cambridge (UK), SGH Warsaw (PL), IESE (ES)
2) Osijek (HR), Turku (FI), Aarhus (DK)
CIP projects (2)
Objective:
Developing innovative and practice-based teaching
material on entrepreneurship for higher education, in
particular by using real cases.
Number of projects: 2
Duration: 16 months
University partners:
1) Dublin IT (IE), EM LYON (FR), Napoli (IT), UA
Barcelona (ES), H. Liechtenstein.
2) Eindhoven, Maastricht (NL), Leuven, Liege (BE),
Bergen (NO), Aachen (DE), UP Catalunya (ES).
EU pilot project: mobility scheme for
young entrepreneurs
European Commission in cooperation with authorities and services at
national / regional level
Coordination
support
matching
Training sessions
Young entrepreneurs
1 – 6 months stay
abroad
Young nascent
entrepreneurs
Exchange of experiences, market
access, networking, intercultural
learning
Existing SMEs in
another EU Member
State
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs
Stimulating entrepreneurship and
encouraging cross-border
business co-operation in Europe
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs
Objectives
Fostering of
• Entrepreneurship
• Internationalisation: SMEs’ full usage of
the internal market
• Competitiveness of start-up
entrepreneurs and newly established
SMEs in the EU
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs
How does it work?
A new entrepreneur travels and stays with an
experienced host entrepreneur in another EU
country
1-6 months business to business exchange
On-the-job-training of new entrepreneurs to
facilitate a successful start and business
development
Benefits for new entrepreneurs:
Get experience & advice from seasoned
entrepreneur
Develop international contacts
Get knowledge about foreign markets
Possible co-venturing opportunities
Benefits for host entrepreneurs:
Access new skills and innovative knowledge
Work with a young fresh mind contributing new
ideas
Gain knowledge and intelligence about the
foreign markets
Act as mentors for new entrepreneurs
Who can participate?
• New entrepreneurs = entrepreneurs
active for less than 3 years; they get a
monthly financial assistance
• Host entrepreneurs = successful and
experienced entrepreneurs
Who implements?
Almost 100 business support organisations
all over Europe are implementing the
programme:
•Promotion
•Recruitment
•Matchmaking
•Logistical support
So far…
2200 applications from all over EU
190 relationships completed
160 more agreed and in various stages of
realisation
More information available at:
www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu
Contacts
• Web site:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/supp
ort_measures/index.htm
• E-mail:
Simone.Baldassarri@ec.europa.eu