Who - Enterprise is VITAL (Vision, Innovation, Teamwork, Achievement and Leadership) is a partnership between five VET colleges (UK, Spain, Portugal, and Finland), a Business Incubation Centre in the UK and a Business Association in Spain (APIP). VET partners will also act as a host for 40 local businesses to participate.What - This is a three year project whereby 8 VET staff and 360 students from four countries will participate in a project aimed at developing new, innovative, creative, entrepreneurial education. VET students will have the opportunity to learn from real-live start up enterprises and gain insights as to why and how they grow.Staff from the Business Incubation Centre and Business Association will act as a source of expertise and will independently organise a transnational enterprise competition for Enterprise is Vital Club members to participate.Outcomes will include a VITAL Resource Pack for VET Centres to implement an Enterprise Ecosystem (Strategic Intent, Programme Co-ordination, Recruitment of Students, Delivery Methods, Programme Content, Programme Enrichment, Business Planning Competitions and Celebrating Success) thereby bridging the gap between academia and the world of work. As well as a Europass recognition, participants will explore the possibility for ECVET credit for their entrepreneurial learning. By applying the ECVET principles VET student mobility visits will be increased to real learning opportunities as opposed to passive participants on tours and events and in doing so VET students will be able to accumulate and transfer ECVET points.Where –Transnational meetings, blended mobilities and a Joint Staff Training event will be hosted in each of the four partner countries ensuring staff and students gain transnational experience. When – Enterprise is VITAL will commence on 1 September 2016 and finish on 31 August 2019.How – The project will be delivered through an Enterprise Club based at each partner campus. World of work and businesses will also participate. Enterprise is VITAL is a unique opportunity to engage VET students with employers in an innovative way. Enterprise is VITAL seeks to build on the shared learning from its predecessor project Enterprise citizens, employees and New venturers (E3) project that identified an unexpected learning opportunity. During the E3 project 30% of participating VET students stated that they would consider starting a business if the conditions were right and 85% stated that a certificated outcome from entrepreneurial learning would motivate them to participate beyond the idea generation stage.Enterprise is VITAL focuses on this duality of purpose and seeks to move students from the theory of starting a business by experiencing real-life incubation practices ‘spin-in and spin-out’, participating in a transnational enterprise competition to create ideas that span European borders and gain a European wide credit for their learning. It is very difficult to be an entrepreneur on one's own. Entrepreneurs are adept at developing social capital (people they can collaborate with). We want to open students’ minds to the opportunities that transnational European teams could provide in setting up and running an enterprise.
Context/background of the project; Generally the terms Enterprise and Entrepreneurship are interchangeable within the educational context, however a distinct difference can be drawn. The delivery of an enterprising curriculum benefits students by developing their inter-personal or transversal skills. ‘It combines creativity, originality, initiative, idea generation, design thinking, problem solving, innovation, expression, communication and practical action'. Entrepreneurship on the other hand focuses on ‘the application of enterprise behaviours, attributes and competences into the creation of cultural, social or economic value'. This can, but does not exclusively, lead to new venture creation. Project Objectives; Enterprise is VITAL aimed to develop creative and innovative teaching practice relating to Entrepreneurship Education and narrow the gap between what is taught and the requirements of the world of work. The primary programme objectives are: 1. To work collectively as a network to develop the VITAL Resource Pack, Principals Workshop, Train the Trainer, Business Planning Competition and Guidance on Accreditation) 2. To increase the entrepreneurial understanding and activity of 16+16 VET staff and 360 VET students throughout the project lifetime and by 20% thereafter. 3. To narrow the entrepreneurship gap between academia and the world of work through the use of problem based learning techniques thereby creating better conditions for transition to working life. 4. To start 4 new VET student enterprises 5. To develop a process for crediting non-formal and informal learning in entrepreneurship across transnational boundaries Number and profile of participating organisations; Through Enterprise Clubs VET students engaged with 45 local employers to create a Business Employer Database (BED). These included multi-national companies, local medium sized businesses, small enterprises and micro-businesses across a range of sectors including IT software, manufacturing and assembly, tourism hospitality and retail, transportation and logistics, material handling, and food production. Wider entrepreneurship ecosystem organisations such as start-up agencies, business incubators, science parks, innovation factories and local councils participated by hosting study visits and showcasing their incubation services. Participants also undertook transnational study visits to see first-hand start-up and growth journeys and associated regional support programmes internationally. Description of undertaken main activities; 360 full-time VET students participated in this project through Enterprise Clubs. Each VET Partner recruited 30 young people annually, 360 in total. Working with VET staff, local employers Enterprise Club participants developed case study materials (A1) Start-up stories 10 case studies, A2 Why they Grow and A3 How they Grow. Each year 20 VET Students (5 per VET partner) were selected from the Enterprise Club to participate in a blended mobility for learners (C1, C2 and C3) to share case study material and participate in a Transnational Enterprise Competition. 10 VET staff and 2 world of work partner staff met three times for short-term joint staff training events (C4, C5 and C6) to develop a VITAL Resource Pack including guidance of College principals on how to integrate enterprise in the curriculum, delivery of business planning competitions and guidance on accreditation. Steering group representatives met three times during the lifetime of the project in Transnational Meetings to discuss and agree project management, coordination, dissemination and evaluation issues. Results and impact attained; The activities undertaken by VET students and staff achieved the desired results, in that a new VITAL Model for transnational business planning competition was tested and proved to be positive enabling students to explore and test ideas, and in doing so converting entrepreneurial thought into action. The inclusion of real-world-of-work partners with expertise in supporting nascent entrepreneurs was beneficial in providing critical feedback and making positive contributions. A significant achievement was that enterprises where started by students. One college developed a permanent start-up zone for students to trade, while others adopted on campus ‘pop-up’ models. All VET partners increased their engagement with wider entrepreneurship ecosystem organisations and provided ‘entrepreneurship-ready’ students as a pipeline to mainstream start-up programmes. The impact on the VET partners has been the increase in wider student experience programmes, broadening staff and student social capital and offering students an alternative to higher-education and employment promoting self-employment as a viable career option. The impact on VET staff is higher level understanding of the entrepreneurial mind-set and confidence to have closer engagement with companies locally and transnationally.