Das Projekttreffen fand vom 15.1.-18.1.2014 am ibc-: hetzendorf statt.

The partners met for the first time in person in Vienna at the ibc Hetzendorf. In an informative tour of the school the Austrian hosts explained their approach to entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education approaches in the different countries was the topic discussed in the intense 2-day workshop. The exchange of information and impressions led to a better understanding and first ideas for making improvements.

The workshop was held in a good atmosphere, thanks in part to the wonderful cake and “Mozartkugeln” provided by the Austrian hosts. The partners held long discussions and grew closer together as a consortium.

Participants:

• Wien/Österreich: Eva Authried, Gabriele Holzweber, David Gogarty, Dieter Wlcek
• Kopavogur /Island: Olöf Kristjansdottir Sigrún Gudmundsdottir
• Tallinn/Estland: Elen Raudsepp, Madis Pihlasalu
• Köln/Deutschland: Rasmus Pechuel, Nils Dorando, Prof. Dr. Bernadette Dilger
• Paisley/Schottland: Idong Usoro
• Timisoara/Rumänien: Zaraza Abrudan, Violeta Micluta, Camelia Pocol, Corina  Tomici, Narcis Dragan, Liviu Groapa

Deserve - Developing Entrepreneurial Spirit through Experience and Reflection in Vocational Education

By embracing the Innovation Union as flagship initiative for Europe 2020 the EU has recognized the great relevance of entrepreneurship education. The main activities for promoting entrepreneurship have always been focused on supporting those in the process of starting a business. Only in recent years isolated activities have started to encourage the development of an entrepreneurial mind at an early age. However, so far the different approaches are all limited to their national context.

The partners of the project are all involved in entrepreneurship education in a vocational context in their respective country. While their initiatives have seen various degrees of success they all believe that more efforts need to be made to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking in Europe. The idea to tackle this challenge together has led to the idea of the partnership project DESERVE

The project aims at improving vocational entrepreneurship education in four ways:

• sharing the experience of its partners teaching entrepreneurship in different vocational education systems,
• focusing on experiential approaches to entrepreneurship education as instruments to foster entrepreneurial mindsets,
• experiencing a practical implementation of educating entrepreneurs following action-based principles in a setting representing European diversity,
• developing a shared understanding of a European approach to entrepreneurship education.

As a result of this project the partners will have:

• learned best practices from each other,
• made a practical experience of action-based entrepreneurship education with a European dimension,
• created and disseminated a handbook on implementing a European design and game based approach,
• used the experience to improved their own approaches.

Participants:

• Deutschland: Universität zu Köln/ und Ingenious Knowledge BPR UG
• Island: Menntaskolinn i Kopavogi, Kopavogur        
• Estland: Tallinna Majanduskool, Tallinn       
• Schottland: University of the West of Scotland, Paisley   
• Rumänien: Asociatia Coltehtim, Timisoara       
• Österreich: ibc hetzendorf, Wien