The aim of the project UPENSKILLS is to identify and define essential soft skills for entrepreneurship in order to produce of a set of tools to be used as training materials in entrepreneurship related courses and programmes for cultivating entrepreneurial mindset of young people. The project will address the education needs of young people during their progression from high school students to young entrepreneurs. The Project will consist of two main parts: identification and definition of essential skills for entrepreneurship, and production of a set of “training sheets” on entrepreneurship skills and competencies to be used as training materials in entrepreneurship related courses and programmes. In order to contribute to the solution of the youth employment problems, the project UPENSKILLS will facilitate the entry of young people to the labor market, encourage youth actively engage in entrepreneurship, through implementation the following objectives: - promoting entrepreneurship education in European Union and in partner countries; fostering recognition of entrepreneurship education and reinforcing a discussion about entrepreneurship competence training, - making entrepreneurship education a basic feature in education systems; - sharing of ideas, knowledge, experience, and best practices among countries, stakeholders, and practitioners; - developing innovative instruments of non-formal education to contribute to development of entrepreneurial competences of young people; Main activities and project tasks: - to identify and define key competences and skills to be and entrepreneur; - to create a portrait of the successful entrepreneur; - to identify similarities and differences in the participant countries/regions; - to collect best cases/good practices on entrepreneurship training in non-formal education and produce portfolio of Good Practices; - to produce of a flexible and adaptable set of methods (method cards) for entrepreneurship trainers based on previous soft skills demand identification to be added as a part of a course or as a programme itself; - to conduct international training course for youth workers to equip them with competences to work with the developed toolkit; - to carry out pilot testing of new toolkit for young people at national level in all partner countries; - to organise three multiplier events and disseminate results.
The UPENSKILLS project aim was to identify and define essential soft skills for entrepreneurship and to produce a set of tools to be used as training materials in entrepreneurship related courses and programmes for cultivating entrepreneurial mindset of young people and promotion of youth entrepreneurship education. To achieve this aim the Project consisted of two main parts: identification and definition of essential skills for entrepreneurship, and production of a set of “training sheets'' on entrepreneurship skills and competencies to be used as training materials in entrepreneurship related courses and programmes. In order to contribute to the solution of the youth employment problems, the project UPENSKILLS aimed to facilitate the entry of young people to the labour market, encourage youth actively engage in entrepreneurship, through implementation of the following objectives: - promoting entrepreneurship education in European Union and in partner countries; fostering recognition of entrepreneurship education and reinforcing a discussion about entrepreneurship competence training, - making entrepreneurship education a basic feature in education systems; - sharing of ideas, knowledge, experience, and best practices among countries, stakeholders, and practitioners; - developing innovative instruments of non-formal education to contribute to development of entrepreneurial competences of young people
When we started to plan the project it was expected by statistics that at least 20% more jobs will require higher level skills. Education needs to drive up both standards and levels of achievement to match this demand, as well as encourage the transversal skills needed to ensure young people are able to be entrepreneurial and adapt to the increasingly inevitable changes in the labour market during their career. Later in 2020 the pandemic started, and it raised the need for quality soft skills training even more. Attention should be particularly focused on the development of entrepreneurial skills, because they not only contribute to new business creation but also to the employability of young people. The development of the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens and organisations is also one of the key policy objectives for the EU and Member States. The main objective of the European Commission is to promote entrepreneurship education and stress its importance at all levels from primary school to university and beyond. As Europe needs more entrepreneurs creating jobs, it is clear it's necessary to support this type of education in all EU countries. Along with the Erasmus+ Program priorities, Project addresses various objectives of European Union: Europe 2020 headline target - Inclusive Growth Employment and Skills (EU flagship initiative "An agenda for new skills and jobs"), promoting entrepreneurship among young people as a key element of the European Youth Pact adopted by the European Council. Nowadays young people drive the business environment, many start-ups are founded by young people. Entrepreneurship refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action. To be successful at the market there should be a strong combination of soft and hard skills. The OECD has identified three main groups of skills required by entrepreneurs: technical, business management and personal entrepreneurship (for example, self-control and discipline, persistence, leadership). However, it is a wide belief that what you need to start a business is less about technical knowledge and more about having the right attitude. By 2022 there is still no proper education or training programs for young people, which concentrates not on formal knowledge of the field, but on soft skills. So there is a strong need to teach young people not only how to technically launch entrepreneurship, but how to be an entrepreneur. Personal education and fostering a sense of initiative can be integrated in the school education system and also included in curriculum of universities in different faculties and study programs.