The Foremlink Project
THE FOREMLINK PROJECT
Objectives
Building entrepreneurial competence is a key EU policy objective. It is a feature of the Strategic Framework for Education and Training and an element of many recent policy documents including the Green Paper on Entrepreneurship in Europe (European Commission, 2003), the Small Business Act for Europe (EC, 2008), the Communication on Rethinking Education (EC, 2012), the Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2020 (EC, 2013) and the New Skills Agenda for Europe (EC, 2016).
The Council Recommendation on Key Competences (EC, 2018), states the importance of “promoting entrepreneurial mindsets” and encourages Member States to think about “nurturing entrepreneurship competence, creativity and the sense of initiative especially among young people”. Despite these policy imperatives, the traditional model of university teaching is starting to be perceived as being less relevant for the future. Young people are questioning whether attending university delivers the benefits they anticipate. Employers doubt whether universities remain the best source of talent and ideas and some politicians doubt the value of increased funding for HE, given its impact on social and economic development. The ForEMLink project seeks to address this context by developing an approach that will offer students relevant and practical learning, increase their entrepreneurship skills and assist them start viable businesses.
Specific objectives of ForEMLink project
To establish concrete links with companies, municipalities and citizens in their regions in order to cocreate projects to foster entrepreneurship.
To develop a methodology that fosters an entrepreneurial mindset (creativity, critical thinking, problem solving) among students and which also engages enterprises and students in designing appropriate curricula for such learning.
THE FOREMLINK PROJECT
Improving Higher Education
ForEMLink brings together four institutions for whom inspiring entrepreneurial mindsets is a common challenge. Through sharing their knowledge and expertise and working together the four partners have the capacity to develop the envisaged outputs and implement all of the proposed project’s activities. Transnational cooperation is a necessary component of this cooperative approach but also a key feature of the two of the tools to be developed (methodology and digital platform – see below).
Through this collaboration the partners will deliver three concrete outputs
The ForEMLink Methodology which will define and describe an approach to co-creation that may be adopted by educators in HEIs to deliver curricula in entrepreneurship.
The ForEMLink Digital Platform which will bring together institutions, enterprises and students and provide a matchmaking service across the four partner countries to enable employers to upload genuine problems that students in the partner institutions will be able to access and attempt to solve as part of their learning.
The ForEMLink Handbook which will be developed with inputs from educators, enterprises and students using the ForEMLink Digital Platform and attending the transnational learning, teaching and learning events. This will be an output which may be used to support future users of the ForEMLink Methodology and/or Platform and as aidememoire for existing users
All three outputs will be developed through joint working by the four partner institutions supplemented by appropriate consultation with and inputs from enterprises, students and educators.
A further tangible output will be two separate learning, teaching and training events, one aimed at educators (C1) and one aimed at students and accompanying educators (C2). These will be attended by participants from all four partner countries and as well as providing an opportunity for user validation of the ForEMLink Methodology (O1) and Platform (O2), will generate input for the ForEMLink Handbook (O3).
Intangible outputs expect to comprise of an increased level of competence and usage of the developed digital resource (platform) among educators at the four institutions, increased confidence and competence among students, particularly those aiming to launch their own business and increases in the birth rate and survival rate of businesses in the four partner areas.
Whilst the anticipated results of ForEMLink will, primarily, be aimed higher education they are likely to be beneficial for other sectors of education including professional, technical and vocational; schools; and adult education and for practitioners in informal and non-formal education and training.
THE FOREMLINK PROJECT
Expected results
The primary target group for ForEMLink is students in higher and advanced vocational education who are interested in developing skills in entrepreneurship. Secondary targets are educators in HEIs who are responsible for delivering entrepreneurship programmes, HEIs which deliver such programmes, and enterprises which may be persuaded of the merits of providing real-life problems with which students and educators may engage to develop entrepreneurship skills. The various approaches of delivering education in entrepreneurship that partners currently use will remain relevant. However, ForEMLink will expand and complement these academic approaches by providing opportunities to co-create learning derived from real-life work-based issues, increasing the relevance of the involvement of enterprises.
The ForEMLink methodology (O1) will directly impact on educators by:
Encouraging them to review existing approaches to delivering entrepreneurship education
Promoting a collaborative/transnational approach to identifying core elements of a curriculum for entrepreneurship education that optimises real-life issues from existing enterprises
Motivating a transnational team to co-create a methodology that incorporates those core elements and a more profound engagement with enterprises.
The ForEMLink Digital Platform (O2) will directly impact on educators and institutions by providing
An innovative ICT platform able to stimulate increased practical learning and co-creation in entrepreneurship education
A concrete mechanism for stimulating engagement with enterprises that is more profound and meaningful for them and students but does not detract those enterprises from pursuing their core missions
A space in which students may co-create with their peers in other institutions and countries to cocreate solutions to real-life issues/problems submitted by enterprises across the four partner countries.
The ForEMLink Digital Platform (O2) also impacts on educators by offering them a richer source of varied and real-life content for programmes in entrepreneurship education. It can also indirectly impact on enterprises by offering them a broader base of talent to which they may submit real-life issues/problems
The ForEMLink Handbook (O3) will directly impact on educators and institutions by:
Offering them a means of acquiring the competence and knowledge to adopt an innovative approach to delivering entrepreneurship education and embracing co-creation within it.
The impact of all three outputs on educators and students will be amplified by the joint staff training course for educators (C1) and the intensive programme for students in higher education (C2). The impact on enterprises and institutions will be augmented by the targeted multiplier events.