EUROPENEURS: European Young Entrepreneurs Erasmus Project

Project Title

EUROPENEURS: European Young Entrepreneurs

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The Erasmus+ project EUROPENEURS, European Young Entrepreneurs, was carried out as an answer to the need of training young European students to become people with a proactive attitude while facing the challenges and opportunities that life offers them at present and will offer them in the future times. There are people who are and act naturally with an entrepreneurial attitude which drives them throughout their lives. However, in most of the cases, the learning and the training we had received conditions the way we face the situations ahead of us. Therefore, the partners in this association of schools provided these young people with a good training in entrepreneurship that can allow them to undergo a change of vital attitude: not conforming to reality as it is but transforming it and moulding it to bring happiness to people.
This Project that we carried out in the period of 2015-17 has trained young European students to develop an entrepreneurial attitude in all their vital aspects (personal, educational, social and working areas). The Project has offered 250 young students, aged 14-17, from six partner schools from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Lithuania and Cyprus the chance of being trained and of living significant experiences to become entrepreneurs.
The students had learned to identify their weaknesses and strengths, to collaborate with the rest of the young Europeans in the generation of creative ideas as an answer to international challenges and to use communication strategies to present their ideas. They had received the suitable training and put them into practice thus experiencing that they can transform the reality they chose to alter. Consequently, these young students have a better preparation to become generators of jobs for themselves and for the others in the future. Nowadays, this is a priority in many European countries and this is an adequate answer to this need.
The activities that we developed had focused on the fulfilment of these objectives and the methodology that we had used had been active, cooperative and experimental: searching for information and research group work with the assumption of particular responsibilities; making up of different and innovative solutions; training by professionals for the construction of prototypes that were assessed by experts in different fields.
These ideas or innovative solutions to the given challenges or opportunities from the reality around us and from the European reality, were presented to the public in the International Contest of Young Entrepreneurs that took place in Castelo de Paiva, Portugal, 6-9 March 2017. Experts from different fields acted as jury: they evaluated the proposals and provided valuable advice to the young participants in the International Fair of Prototypes. It was an amazing experience for them to have personal contact with such professionals of high entrepreneurial profile.
The process of learning, experiencing and creating (attitudes and values of the young entrepreneur, generation of creative ideas, techniques of communication of innovative ideas) is reflected in the Visual Guide of the Young European Entrepreneur which had been jointly prepared in the different meetings of learning, training and teaching activities that we had in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; in Elektrenai, Lithuania; and in Castelo de Paiva, Portugal.
In addition, all this training and work and learning process had been collected in the Portfolio of the Entrepreneur which each of the participants in the project worked on.
The project EUROPENERUS had a very positive impact upon the participants; they had improved both their abilities and their attitudes in relation to entrepreneurship, their skills, self-esteem and confidence while facing the challenges and problems that life may bring them. The students feel better trained to lead their school, social and work tasks now. We think that another important impact of the project upon the young students who took part in it is that, after the training and learning sessions they had developed during the project, they can face life in a more critical and proactive way now, becoming generators of job opportunities for themselves and for the others.
The teachers had improved their formation on entrepreneurship too and they are now better trainers on this topic. All this had improved their teaching competence and improved their own personal satisfaction and their valuing of daily work as active educators who help students with the necessary skills.
After taking part in the project, parents are now more involved in their commitment to the education of their children. It is clear that they had also improved their attitude to support their children in future innovation initiatives.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 116990 Eur

Project Coordinator

Colegio Carmelitas Sagrado Corazón Ikastetxea & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Castelo de Paiva
• Gimnazjum nr 1 im. Janusza Kusocinskiego w Ostrolece
• Elektrenu profesinio mokymo centras
• Agios Georgios Lyceum, Larnaca
• Cooperativa Maria Consolatrice – SCUOLA REGINA MUNDI