INnovative educaTion foR sustaInable eNtrepreneurShip In Life sCiences Erasmus Project

Project Title

INnovative educaTion foR sustaInable eNtrepreneurShip In Life sCiences

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Although entrepreneurial competencies in general have been explicated in research, activities to develop them are usually offered in specialized departments and courses at Life Science universities (LSUs). Associated learning activities are not well integrated in the mainstream curricula, the support for higher education (HE) teachers to implement and evaluate them is lacking. As a result a large potential of student entrepreneurship remains untapped.

Supporting the development of the sustainable entrepreneurial potential is of special relevance for LSUs being major players in facing the global “grand” challenges of the 21st Century targeted by Europe`s 2020 priorities for a “smart, sustainable and inclusive” development, e.g. an improved bioeconomy, a sustainable management of the natural resources, the need for food and nutritional security and safety, the enhancement of the economic viability of the food and non-food value chains, and the reduction of poverty, and in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Therefore, INTRINSIC aimed 1) to make latent and nascent entrepreneurship competencies of students more tangible/visible using a competence framework for sustainable entrepreneurship (SE), 2) to fully connect entrepreneurship education to the SDGs 3) to further initiate and develop competencies of LS graduates through the development of innovative teaching/learning activities including ways to evaluate the targeted development of the entrepreneurial mindset.

To achieve this, INTRINSIC developed innovative SE education tools, methodologies, pedagogies and trainer-the-trainer materials to enrich existing curricula on the interface between entrepreneurship in the Life Sciences and the SDGs. INTRINSIC resources support the development of SE competences as a composite of transversal skills (diversity competence, foresighted thinking competence, systems thinking competence, interpersonal competence, normative competence and strategic action competence) and the associated mindset enabling students to discover new opportunities to create social, environmental or economic value related to sustainability and the SDGs. These competences and the associated mindset are increasingly being considered as fundamental to successfully address the global challenges of the 21st Century and to achieve the SDGs.

INTRINSIC focused around the development and active dissemination of five innovative intellectual outputs:

1) a open modular interactive ePlatform to provide teaching and assessment activities for SE in LS, and means to collaborate and create a community of practice for HE teachers at LSUs, supported also by an App (O1)

2) a mobile App to monitor entrepreneurial-related changes in the mindset of students (O2)

3) a teaching model and design tool for teaching SE in Life Sciences (O3)

4) a train-the-trainer staff development module (O4)

5) an online case study collection and good practice recommendations as support and guidance for teachers using the INTRINSIC ePlatform (O5)

BOKU coordinated the project and lead the production of the staff development module, ICA managed the development of the interactive ePlatform and Connected Educator APP. WU, UGent and UH as early adopters for innovative teaching of (sustainable) entrepreneurship competencies in higher education in LS were leading the development of the mindset monitor (WU), the design tool for teaching SE in LS (UGent) and the production of the collection of good practice, case studies and testimonials (UH).

FAZ, UniTE, BUAS and AUA contributed to the intellectual outputs according to their specific experiences and expertise. ICA and BOKU maintain the ePlatform and INTRINSIC resources after the project, ICA further disseminates the project results to a wider European level. This is supported by a special interest group (SIG) on sustainable entrepreneurship education (SEE) that formed as a result of the project at ICA.

INTRINSIC organized six transnational project meetings, out of which three were held online due the COVID pandemic. The final multiplier, at the same time the 1st International Conference on Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education (1st SustEntEd), took place online from 25.-26.11.2021.

As a result, HE teachers and responsible managers at LSUs involved in the project were inspired and better prepared to integrate education for SE in courses and curricula. On a larger scale, HE teachers at LSUs across Europe benefitted from the exchange initiated, the personal networks established, and the innovative approaches and resources developed and offered by INTRINSIC. As a result the engagement of more LS students in SE will be increased.

INTRINSIC laid the basis for an improvement of curricula at LS universities and the qualification of HE teachers with regard to SE, enabling students of LS universities to better address the sustainable economic development in the European Union and the global SDGs.

Project Website

https://intrinsic.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 280996 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET FUER BODENKULTUR WIEN & Country: AT

Project Partners

• HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
• UNIVERSITATEA DE STIINTE AGRICOLE SI MEDICINA VETERINARA A BANATULUI REGELE MIHAI I AL ROMANIEI DIN TIMISOARA
• ASSOCIATION FOR EUROPEAN LIFE SCIENCES UNIVERSITIES
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TERAMO
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU AGRONOMSKI FAKULTET
• UNIVERSITEIT GENT
• WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY