The PuRPOSE project’s main objective is to promote research attractiveness in the fields of entrepreneurship and management studies by developing new training approaches and tools in order to contribute to overcome obstacles such as lack of interest, network, knowledge and skills that prevent students from engaging in PhD studies. The private sector will be strongly involved in the project in order to increase relevance of activities, favor a practical approach and allow students to develop their network. The project will go through three phases: - A development phase during which the partners will carry out an inventory and analysis of existing good practices, define strategies and create the tools for increasing research attractiveness - A pilot phase where the tools and concept created will be tested on Master’s students during the learning teaching and training activities carried out. - An analysis of the tools and concept created following the experience of the pilot phase The first intended result is an analysis of good practices and obstacles in partner HEIs. This output will lead to the development of strategies and recommendations for fostering research attractiveness and to the refinement of the MiniLabs pilot concept. The second intended result is the “MiniLabs pilot concept”, a comprehensive Learning, Teaching and Training concept. This MiniLabs pilot concept will be based on a series of principles, tools and training methods with the aim of favoring research attractiveness for Master’s students. It will be conceived as an idea to help trainers provide an attractive and innovative pedagogical approach to give students the necessary skills, knowledge, interest and practical know-how to get involved in research/PhD studies after their master’s degree. The MiniLabs will include two main features: collaborative work by international student teams on research projects through online and face to face coaching, and an online training module in the form of a series of videos. The third intended result is the MiniLabs Guide for promoting research attractiveness. The analysis of the MiniLabs pilot concept will lead to the production of a guide for promoting research attractiveness that will be easily transferrable through the consortium’s network In terms of long term impact, the final expected results are the dissemination of the MiniLab's guide for research attractiveness, the replication of the MiniLabs concept and the creation of a European network working on themes revolving around research in entrepreneurship and attractiveness, exchange of good practices and encouraging research in management studies involving external actors.
The Erasmus+ PuRPOSE project, coordinated by the University of Montpellier (France) and associating two European universities (Universität-Siegen, Germany) and Technological University of the Shannon (former Limerick Institute of Technology), Ireland) as well as a network of entrepreneurs (Réseau Entreprendre, active in several European countries) intended make master students discover what research is and foster their engagement in research activities, and PhD especially, in the field of management and entrepreneurship. More specifically, our aim was to design, test and disseminate an innovative educational program that contributes to foster doctoral studies attractiveness at Master’s level by overcoming the barriers to students’ engagement on PhD programs.
The number of students enrolling in HEIs is rising every year, yet less and less students enrol in PhD studies especially in the field of entrepreneurship and management studies. According to Eurostat sources, very few European PhD students enrol in the field of social sciences, management, and business studies in comparison to other fields such as science, maths, and engineering: it represents 22.9%. The conclusion that can be drawn to these numbers is that engaging in research activities in entrepreneurship and management studies is relatively unattractive to students in the national context of each of the project partners countries. The main objective of PuRPOSE was to promote the attractiveness of research in entrepreneurship and management studies by developing new educational approaches and tools to help overcome barriers such as lack of interest, network, knowledge, and skills that prevent students from pursuing doctoral studies.The development of richer media sources, the MiniLab Online training module, gave them a more user-friendly access to knowledge. The private sector was involved in the project to increase the relevance of the activities, promote a hands-on approach, and allow students to expand their network.