ERASMUS+ Programme “YESict”: An Innovative European Funded Project Aimed at Fostering Young Entrepreneurs
The University of Nicosia is pleased to announce its involvement as a partner in the Erasmus+ funded programme entitled‘Young Entrepreneurship Skills by ICT’ (YESict). The three year programme is led by aNTIC Pays Basque (France) and includes partners from five European countries including Spain, Cyprus, Denmark and Austria.
How can a digital approach encourage young people to become entrepreneurs of the future and overcome the economic crisis? That is the challenge put forward by aNTIC Pays Basque together with its six European partners. To meet this challenge, the YESict programme aims to design and implement an innovative digital teaching method to help teachers encourage entrepreneurship in school children between the ages of 11 and 15.
Most European countries have been hit by the economic crisis, a decline in growth and rising unemployment. As a result, there has been a shift in Europe, and further afield, to develop programmes that encourage entrepreneurship and initiative in young people, rather than adults, who are typically targeted. Whether a young person is entrepreneurial or not often depends on their mind-set rather than them possessing particular skills or know-how, and usually begins early in life. The YESict programme aims to remove barriers that could prevent a young person from becoming an entrepreneur in the future, such as fear of taking risks, limited experience and a lack of family support. The programme will use ground-breaking teaching methods and technology, such as video games, to make learning fun and to break down barriers.
The project consortium includes the University of Nicosia, Synthesis (Cyprus), MGEP (Spain), Vaeksthus Sjalland (Denmark), FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences (Austria) and Ikastolen Elkartea (Spain). The project kick off meeting took place in Copenhagen, Denmark between 10 and 11 December 2015.
By August 2018, aNTIC Pays Basque will coordinate the design of innovative ways of preventing and removing obstacles to entrepreneurship and the piloting of the tools that will be developed. These are expected to include:
- Training modules for young people and teachers
- A framework to assess young people’s entrepreneurship skills
- Digital tools to support the training modules
- A ‘train the trainer’ guide to help teachers understand how to use the tools and training modul
University staff engaged in the project are Prof. Angelika Kokkinaki, MBA Director, and Dr. Despo Ktoridou, Management & MIS Department, School of Business, as well as Ms. Elisa Bosio, Senior Research Officer, Research & Innovation Office.
For more information contact Dr. Despo Ktordiou, Management & MIS Department, School of Business, University of Nicosia at [email protected].
