The motivation for the project is to develop the concept of international student minicompanies in the European economic surroundings as a pedagogical method, supporting young people to develop their own leadership skil with an increasing focus on CSR.This experience will also give students a great opportunity to know people from other countries and cultures in Europe in order to cooperate working with common issues towards common goals. Our partnership agrees entirely with the quotations bellow published in the study run by the CE Final report of the Expert Group, September 2005, available in http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemshortdetail.cfm?item_id=3358 “Europe places the main emphasis on knowledge and innovation. Promoting a more entrepreneurial culture is an important part of this effort, starting with young people and from school education” The objectives of the project are to develop students' leadership skills: skills in public speaking, leading a team, collaborating with partners from different cultural backgrounds;increase students' awareness about the common European business environment; promote the development, testing and/or implementation of innovative practices in the field of education, training and youth;improve ICT skills in the professional environment; improve foreign language skills through content integrated language learning (CLIL) in entrepreneurial issues;develop a sustainable new school network with many cooperation possibilities in the future, strengthening the cooperation between organisations with a view to establishing exchanges of good practices. In the past, all partners gained different experiences in the practical training with minicompanies in their countries, because all schools have a specialization in teaching entrepreneurship. Moreover, the five Economics teachers involved in this schools partnership are registered at the European network of EWB (Enterprises without borders by Young Enterprises - Junior Achievement) and three of them have already had the opportunity to work in former international projects together. Thus, it could be stated that all the schools involved in the project have either a lot of experience managing international projects and working with long-term international partners, or are open to new ideas and tend to look for innovative ways of teaching. The main activity of the “European Entrepreneurship Education - your skills for the future” is to let our regular students experience the process of starting a new business and creating a European student minicompany: from the initial stage of generating an innovative business idea to managing its implementation and the development of all the enterprise functional areas (marketing, international business law, business ethics, finance) and force their Entrepreneurial skills next to them. Transnational students business meetings, business areas reports, participation in international students minicompanies trading fairs, meetings with experts in different business-related fields, the examination with the skills of the 21st century and new busines modells especially in the sustainable market, preparation of entrepreneurial teaching material, and dissemination of information and results of the project via Internet platforms such as E-Twinning and EwB , are the most relevant project activities. As for the long-term benefits of the project, we expect the following general outcomes in our partnership:innovative approaches to teaching, by providing more attractive education and training programs; use of participatory approaches and ICT-based methodologies;a more modern, dynamic, committed and professional environment inside the organization: ready to integrate good practices and new methods into daily activities; open to synergies with organizations active in different fields or in other socio-economic sectors;strategic planning of international development for partner organizations;increased capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level: improved management competences and internationalization strategies; reinforced cooperation with partners from other countries, other fields of education, training and youth and/or other socio-economic sectors.
The aim of the project was to develop a concept of international student mini companies in the European economic surroundings as a new and innovative pedagogical method. This way, students of all partner schools were supported to develop their own leadership skills with an additional focus on CSR. The experiences they gained during the project were supplemented by the great opportunity to get to know people from other countries and cultures in Europe. They cooperated by working on common topics towards common goals. Based on the quotation mentioned in the project summary at application time (see above), we have been working on implementing an international entrepreneurial spirit in all our schools with the aid of innovative teaching and learning methods for students aged 16-19, who not only had been taught entrepreneurship in their business subjects previously but had also claimed a strong will to participate in the mobilities by submitting letters of motivation and undergoing interviews with a jury. The objectives of the project were to further develop students' leadership skills: i.e. skills in public speaking, leading a team, collaborating with partners from different cultural backgrounds, increasing students' awareness about the common European business environment; promoting the development, testing and/or implementation of innovative practices in the field of education, training and youth, improving ICT skills in the professional environment; improving foreign language skills through content integrated language learning (CLIL) in entrepreneurial issues; developing a sustainable new school network with many cooperation possibilities in the future, strengthening the cooperation between organisations with a view to establishing exchanges of good practices. The content-based activities of the project “European Entrepreneurship Education - your skills for the future” have enabled our students to experience the process of starting a new business from scratch and creating a European student mini company by fostering their entrepreneurial skills. This involved the sequences from the initial stage of generating an innovative business idea to managing its implementation and the development of all the enterprise functional areas (marketing, international business law, business ethics, finance). The most relevant project activities for exchanging knowledge and sharing ideas were the transnational student business meetings, business area reports, the participation in international students’ mini company trading fairs, meetings with experts in different business-related fields, the use of 21st century skills and new business models especially based on sustainability, the preparation of entrepreneurial teaching material, and dissemination of information and results of the project via Internet platforms such as E-Twinning and EwB. In the past, all partners had gained different experiences in the practical training with mini companies in their countries, because all schools have a specialization in teaching entrepreneurship. Moreover, the five Economics teachers involved in this schools partnership are registered at the European network of EWB (Enterprises without borders by Young Enterprises - Junior Achievement) and three of them have already had the opportunity to work in former international projects together. Thus, it could be stated that all the schools involved in the project have either a lot of experience managing international projects and working with long-term international partners, or are open to new ideas and tend to look for innovative ways of teaching. The long-term benefits of the project we expect are the continuing of our school partnerships enabling a reliable network for sharing innovative approaches to teaching and using participatory approaches and ICT-based methodologies. This should result in a more modern, dynamic, committed, and professional environment inside the organizations and thus, provide more attractive education and training programs. That involves being ready to integrate good practices and new methods in teaching routines; showing interest in synergies with organizations active in different fields or in other socio-economic sectors; improving management competences and planning strategic internationalisation; increasing the capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level; reinforcing cooperation with partners from other countries, other fields of education, training and youth and/or other socio-economic sectors.