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Enterprise and Industry Directorate General European Commission
Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets through education and learning
Kirsi Ekroth-Manssila Deputy Head of Unit European Commission Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General
Political framework
•
Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs:
Member States should reinforce entrepreneurship education •
Commission’s Annual Progress Report 2006:
proposal to add entrepreneurship to all national school curricula •
Recommendation
of the European Parliament and the Council: entrepreneurship is a key competence for all
What is “Entrepreneurship Education” ?
To develop personal attributes and horizontal skills: creativity, initiative, risk-taking, autonomy, self-confidence, leadership, team working… Awareness of self-employment and entrepreneurship as possible career options Learning by doing: work on concrete projects (e.g. students running mini-companies) Specific business skills: how to start and run successfully a company.
Entrepreneurship related skills
Personal skills:
• Team working • Communication • Self-confidence • Taking initiative • Problem-solving • Taking calculated risk • Leadership
Business skills:
• Basic economics • Financial literacy • Developing market research • Drafting a business plan • Raising finance • Sales techniques • Running a business meeting
Policy instruments
Open method of co-ordination 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.
Some activities of the EC
•
Education for Entrepreneurship
, especially in primary and secondary schools. Expert Reports and Guide on Good Practice • Student
Mini-companies
in Secondary Education. Expert Report and audiovisual material •
Commission’s Communication
“Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets through education and learning”
Ongoing project
: • Entrepreneurship in
Higher Education
, especially in non business studies
Share of secondary schools participating in mini-company programmes
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
B C el ze gi um ch R ep ub lic D en m ar k G er m an y Es to ni a Fr an ce Ire la nd La tv ia Li th ua Lu ni a xe m bo ur g H un ga ry A us tr ia Po la nd Fi nl an d Sw ed en UK N or w ay
Commission Communication
Commission Communication - COM (2006) 33
“Fostering entrepreneurial mindsets through education and learning“
Objectives:
• Set the scene, and showcase good practice • Identify key issues to be addressed • Suggest measures for a more systematic strategy • Trigger action in the Member States
Some good examples
Finland
: entrepreneurship strategy was jointly developed by different ministries and organisations
Luxembourg
: programme for all primary schools has a section on starting up a business based on a cartoon
Poland
: entrepreneurship is a compulsory subject in all secondary schools
Spain, Asturias
: students run import-export mini-companies as part of the regional curriculum for secondary schools
UK:
pilots in schools and now dissemination; Science Enterprise Challenge introducing entrepreneurship in science and technological universities
Proposed action
• Develop a coherent framework • Support to schools and teachers • Participation by external actors and teachers • Fostering entrepreneurship in higher education • Share and disseminate good practice
Oslo Conference – October 2006
“Entrepreneurship Education in Europe: Fostering Entrepreneurial Mindsets through Education and Learning”
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/ support_measures/training_education/index.htm
How to turn the action lines of the Commission Communication into concrete activities
The Oslo Agenda for Entrepreneurship Education in Europe
• A rich
catalogue of initiatives
, based on successful experiences in Europe • Stakeholders can pick actions at the appropriate level • Possible actors are indicated for each one of the proposed actions
Actions proposed
Framework for policy development:
• Ensure political support at high level • Better integrate entrepreneurship education into the Lisbon monitoring process • Set up a European-wide framework of objectives • Launch national strategies • Create Steering Groups: European and national • Ensure coordination at EU level in the evaluation
Actions proposed
Support to educational establishments:
• Integrate entrepreneurship in curriculum • Commission to support curricular reforms • Support the use of practice-based tools • Ensure sustained funding/support • Build European and national platforms for exchange • Develop research to assess the impact
Actions proposed
Support to teachers and educators:
• Attach training to teachers to curriculum reforms • Adopt innovative methods to train teachers • Set-up incentives at school level to enable teachers • Support the mobility of educators across Europe
Actions proposed
Entrepreneurship activities in schools and in higher education:
• Raise awareness of the role of entrepreneurs • Introduce innovative pedagogies into all courses • Test entrepreneurial competences of students • Link students to companies and business people • Allow and support the spontaneous initiative of student associations • Engage alumni in the activities
Actions proposed
Entrepreneurship activities in schools (contd)
• Offer training to disadvantaged groups • Integrate entrepreneurship across different subjects • Bring entrepreneurs into the classroom, and involve students in enterprise projects • Increase the production of European case studies • Give entrepreneurship more academic esteem • Embed evaluation into all programmes
Actions proposed
Building links and opening education to the outside world:
• Encourage the creation of learning communities • Businesses to donate a part of the working time of staff to activities in school / university • Create label for “entrepreneurial schools” and “entrepreneurial universities” • Establish entrepreneurship centres at a local level
Actions proposed
Communication activities:
• Launch awareness campaigns: EU and national • Celebrate entrepreneurship programmes that work well • Establish awards to acknowledge enterprises that donate funds and time
Next steps
•
Dissemination
to policy makers in public administrations and to other stakeholders • A
source of inspiration
for any strategy or specific measures to be implemented at national and regional level •
The Commission
will use the Agenda to establish its priorities, and to draw ideas for future actions