Blog

Entrepreneurship Education: shared meanings and understandings and their implications

Frank Hennessey, Head of Business Studies at St. Mary’s University College in UK

Some of you may know the old joke “10 people understand binary, those that do and those that do not.”

For too long there has been a binary, at least, approach to Entrepreneurship Education, (EE) which we need to address, and do so, as a matter of urgency. Over the years I have been fortunate to attend a number of EU sponsored conferences addressing EE. A consistent feature of these conferences has been the wide divergence of interpretation of what is meant by EE.

A change in attitude towards education is needed

Danuta Jazłowiecka, MEP

When I ask school-aged young people what they would like to do in the future, only a small percentage have clear ideas about their professional careers. This shows that teenagers are very often not able nor prepared to make decisions when it comes to choosing a university or even their studies. Therefore teaching them to be active, entrepreneurial, responsible, flexible and ready to adapt to changing social and economic conditions should be one of the main tasks faced by European schools in this century.

It’s never too early to teach entrepreneurship

Ben Butters, EU Affairs Director at EUROCHAMBRES

Why Entrepreneurial Learning should start from primary school

“Sense of initiative and 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”.

Developments in entrepreneurship

Simone Baldassarri, Policy Officer for DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Having been working at European level for a number of years already to promote entrepreneurship education, we can see that things are slowly but constantly moving. Most countries in Europe have significantly increased their efforts in the area of entrepreneurship education.

Entrepreneurship education - can we make the leap?

Caroline Jenner, CEO JA Europe

Young people today can spend 20 years in a classroom. As the pace of change outside those walls increases exponentially, the more important it is to ensure that schools and universities are spaces that are in constant interaction with the community outside. Kris Peeters, Deputy Prime Minister for Belgium, on the occasion of the European Youth Forum plenary on April 17th, spoke of the critical importance of entrepreneurship as a career path and what should be an “osmosis” between education and employment rather than a “leap”.