The 2015 Joint Report for ET 2020, {COM (2015) 408 final}, roughly underlines the needs to recalibrate the education systems to enhance social cohesions by promoting equity, active citizenship and intercultural competence within European borders. There is a strongly need to deliver innovation and entrepreneurship competences to recent graduates by making the cooperation between universities and business normal features, since the Europe 2020 productivity, competitiveness, and innovations is enhanced by the entrepreneurial and civic skills of students {COM(2012) 669 Final}.The 2011 EU Modernization agenda marks out the responsibility of education to fulfill its role in society to overcome the labor market bottlenecks and to create stronger ties to business communities and civil society {COM(2011) 567 final}.The project attempts to address the needs of our society for better social cohesion, deeper active citizenship and improved equity values, based on articulating innovative project architecture to capacitate the potential of a strong cross-sectorial partnership between universities, businesses, and adult education sectors. The partners’ joint approach in addressing the toughest sustainability issues aims to stimulate responsible businesses and civic values of students, company staff, academics and teachers throughout developing, testing, implementing, and improving the Innovative Educational Solution, "Edu4Society". We envisage four objectives:• Define and transform the needs of professional business conduct and civic behavior of business and socio-economic sectors into the learning needs embedded in the innovative curriculum, based on the engagement of stakeholders from education, business, research and civil society.• Capacitate and harness the potential of social responsibility and civic knowledge co-creation through the engagement of learners (students, academics, teachers, experts and business practitioners) to the innovative educational solution based on multi-layer and multi-use educational modules. • Increase the value of and maximize the potential of cross-border knowledge exchange for developing social, civic, intercultural and responsible business conduct, based on involving learners (students, academics, teachers, experts and business practitioners) in the Innovative e-Educational Solution.• Engage in promoting active citizenship, improved equity values and business social responsibility good practices exchange across local, regional and European levels to nourish the cross-sectorial stakeholders with innovative knowledge from education-business cooperation.The innovative project architecture with core cross-sectorial partnership between universities, business, and adult education, fuelled with three different European culture in promoting entrepreneurship, intercultural and civic competences of students and learners envisages a considerable expected impact on three distinct educational level:• the teachers involved in upper secondary education become the ambassadors for social responsibility education and civic behaviour in teaching their classes, ensuring thus a critical mass of information for educating young people from upper secondary levels (high schools);• the students, with an increased sense of initiative, citizenship and entrepreneurship, being better prepared to create new businesses with core social responsibility strategy and modelled processes (strategic and operational); • the professionals and experts, with an improved level of understanding and responsiveness to social and sustainable issues, being able to shift the way of doing business by designing and incorporating the social responsibility management systems in the core of business. • for the other relevant stakeholders is a strategic means of involving in a complex network trying to articulate the citizenship and responsible business conduct on national, regional and European level.In the frame of social economy context is also being settled as an important impact of the project implementation, too: o the tested and improved academic curriculum, being ready for preparation and implementation of amendments to the curriculum at the university level;o the higher education institutions and educational providers with a significant mass of good quality educational content and applications for working with students and adult learners through multi-layers digital modules and collaborative resources.By stimulating the responsible business and civic values of students, company staff, academics and teachers, the "Edu4Society" project is expected to bring positive and sustainable effects, ensuring a critical mass of knowledgeable and more responsive stakeholders to the economic, environmental and social impacts of business and socio-economic sectors on citizens’ life.
There is a strongly need to deliver innovation and entrepreneurship competences to students by making the cooperation between universities and business normal features, since the Europe 2020 productivity, competitiveness, and innovations is enhanced by the entrepreneurial and civic skills of graduates {COM(2012) 669 Final}. Our project, Edu4society, succeeded to deliver innovation and entrepreneurship to different types of target groups, strengthening the responsibility of education to fulfill its role in society and creating ties to business and civil society, as recommended by the 2011 EU Modernisation agenda, through the following fulfilled objectives: 1. Defined and transformed needs of professional business conduct and civic behavior of business and socio-economic sectors into the learning needs embedded in the innovative curriculum, based on the engagement of 284 stakeholders from education, business, research and civil society, encompassed by Intellectual Output O1, M1-M23, coordinated by P1. 2. Capacitated and harnessed the potential of social responsibility and civic knowledge co-creation through the engagement of 108 learners (students, academics, teachers, experts and business practitioners) in the innovative educational solution based on multi-layer and multi-use educational modules, encompassed by Intellectual Output O2, M3-M23, coordinated by P3. 3. Increased the value of cross-border knowledge exchange for developing social, civic, intercultural and responsible business conduct, based on involving 83 learners (students, academics, teachers, experts and trainers) in the Innovative e-Educational Solution, encompassed by Intellectual Output O3, M2-M23, coordinated by P4, and Intensive Study Programmes: 1st IP, June-17 coordinated by P1 and 2nd IP June-18 coordinated by P5. 4. Promoted active citizenship, improved equity values and business social responsibility, and exchanged good practices across local and European levels, nourishing the cross-sectorial stakeholders with innovative knowledge from education-business cooperation to 169 participants, encompassed by Multiplier Events, E1 Oct-17 leaded by P2; E2 May-18 leaded by P5; E3 Sept-18 leaded by P6. Our project induced positive changes at the levels of participating organisations composed of a transnational mix of HEIs from Romania (P1-UPB), Slovenia (P5-UM) and Bulgaria (P6-URAK), 1 Romanian SME (P2-ETS) providing professional training for adults, 1 Romanian educational center for upper-secondary teachers professional development (P3-CCD), and 1 Romanian SME delivering management consultancy to the business sector (P4-AVT) as follows: • HEIs with improved curriculum in the area of social responsibility in doing business and with increased scope of their internationalization strategy within European higher education space. For HEIs involved it was a meaningful way for adjusting and improving the curriculum, for the development of strategic partnership and joint courses, increasing thus the internationalization scope of higher education space. • SMEs with improved perspectives for resolving critical issues for social innovation, augmented intercultural and civic experiences and improved capacity to generate further international cooperation, to build relationships, exchange perspectives and create shared learning approaches. • Educational center with improved cross border cooperation for developing social, civic, and responsible business conduct, having better prepared upper-secondary teachers to became ambassadors for social responsibility education and civic behaviour in teaching their classes, ensuring thus a critical mass of information for educating young people from upper secondary levels (high schools); Our project stimulated responsible business and civic values of students, company staff, academics and teachers, promoted the European culture and civic competences for students and learners, and strengthened the social responsible entrepreneurship. By bringing talented people into innovative learning environment, our project brought positive and sustainable effects, and ensured a critical mass of knowledgeable and more responsive stakeholders to the economic, environmental and social impacts of business and socio-economic sectors on citizens’ life. Through the fulfilled objectives, our project brings a positive contribution to changing the status – quo in the countries involved, satisfying the main needs of TGs described in the application stage, by enhancing social cohesions, promoting equity, active citizenship and intercultural competence within European borders, as recommended in the 2015 Joint Report for ET 2020, {COM (2015) 408 final}.