Enhance your curriculum by addressing the QAA Guidance on skills for your subject, and incorporating the QAA (2018) Guidance on Enterprise and Entrepreneurship.
Since the publication of EntreComp Since the release of EntreComp in Action (2018) universities and colleges have been using European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework to develop their enterprise and entrepreneurship and knowledge exchange agenda as they work across their three institutional missions of learning and teaching, research and knowledge exchange.
These case examples showcase how ENTRECOMP has been used across the three missions.
Note: EntreComp forms a key part of the QAA (2018) guidance but does not directly link to QAA subject benchmark statements as is shown in other areas of the ETCToolkit.
The following ETC tools can help you to deliver these skills in the curriculum
These guides have been selected to build QAA (2018) enterprise skills in your teaching.
Group Size
?
1.) Small group (teams of 4-6)
2.) Individual Task
3.) Large Group
4.) Any
Individual Task
Learning Environment
?
1.) Lecture Theatre
2.) Presentation Space
3.) Carousel Tables (small working group)
4.) Any
5.) Outside
6.) Special
Any
QAA Enterprise Theme(s)
?
1.) Creativity and Innovation
2.) Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation
3.) Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4.) Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5.) Reflection and Action
6.) Interpersonal Skills
7.) Communication and Strategy
8.) Digital and Data Skills
1Creativity and Innovation
2Opportunity recognition‚ creation and evaluation
3Decision making supported by critical analysis and judgement
4Implementation of ideas through leadership and management
5Reflection and Action
6Interpersonal Skills
7Communication and Strategy
8Digital and Data Skills
EntreComp 3 missions: Education (self-assessment tool; self-reflection; assessment; recognition of prior learning)
Yoop.fi/en is a web tool that aims to support higher education students in taking advantage of the entrepreneurship competence acquired outside formal education and integrate it into their degrees through recognition of prior learning and accreditation of learning demonstrated in some other manner.
The aim of the Yoop.fi/en is to increase students’ interest and motivation towards entrepreneurship studies by encouraging the adoption of personalised study plans in entrepreneurship. It helps, specifically, in the recognition and articulation of the competences acquired outside formal education.
Rationale
The role of experiential learning taking place outside formal education has been recognised as an important resource in entrepreneurship education and preparing students for entrepreneurial careers. Student gain valuable learning, for example, from business activities, work, engagement in entrepreneurship student organisations or other recreational activities. Objective of Yoop.fi/en web tool is to support higher education (HE) students in taking advantage of this competence acquired outside formal education and integrate it into their degrees by promoting the recognition of prior learning (RPL) and accreditation of learning demonstrated in some other manner of entrepreneurship competences. RPL and accreditation of learning represent practices adopted in higher education institutions (HEIs) in order to make the learning acquired from experiential learning outside the educational institution visible, and in doing so, allow students to fulfil their academic requirements outside the official curriculum. The main goal of RPL is to recognize and acknowledge individuals’ competence and knowledge regardless of how and where it has been acquired and integrate it into the degree (e.g. Bohlinger, 2017). Accreditation of learning demonstrated in some other manner, on the other hand, refers to model, where learning activities that take place outside HEIs are designed to be part of the curriculum in predetermined manner. This model is mainly used in Finland, and it focuses on defining suitable ways to acquire the intended competences through work or hobbies (Kotila & Mäki, 2015).
The web tool aims to help the students and the teachers to identify and articulate entrepreneurship competences and to familiarize the users with recognition and accreditation of learning through examples and guidelines. Yoop.fi/en includes the following contents and interactive elements for students:
HE teachers can take use of the above mentioned contents also in their work. In addition, Yoop.fi/en has the following contents especially for teachers:
Hence, Yoop.fi/en is to be used as a complementary tool in connection with HEIs’ own practices.
Recognition and accreditation of learning are visibly promoted in Finnish HE policy. Their normative foundation is based on the need to accelerate the rate at which students enter working life through increasing the effectiveness of their studies and avoiding overlapping learning (Ministry of Education, 2007; Prime Minister’s Office, 2015). Recognition and accreditation of learning are promoted particularly in the field of entrepreneurship (UNIFI, 2016; ARENE, 2015), but their use remains lower than expected (Huusko et al., 2018). Yoop.fi/en web tool has been developed to help Finnish HEIs to take advantage of the opportunities related to recognition and accreditation of learning in the field of entrepreneurship. It is created in HOTIT OPIT development project (2018-2020) which is a national higher education development project funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland. The project is a joint effort of nine Finnish higher education institutions: University of Turku (Coordinator), Åbo Akademi University, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Aalto University, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, LAB University of Applied Sciences, LUT University, University of Oulu, and Oulu University of Applied Sciences. For the development of Yoop.fi, the HOTIT OPIT consortium conducted a national study focused on the experiences and views among HE teachers on the use of recognition and accreditation of learning in entrepreneurship. Altogether 56 teachers from 24 higher education institutions took part in individual and group interviews organised between 2018 and 2019. The study shows that the recognition and accreditation of learning in entrepreneurship competence are carried out at all of the Universities of Applied Sciences interviewed, but they are less common at Research-Oriented Universities, although there is a desire to develop these practices in the future. Teachers find that recognition and accreditation of learning benefit both students and the HEIs. For example, they motivate the students and diversify their learning environments. Some challenges were also identified. Some teachers find it difficult to evaluate entrepreneurship competence and they note that students are not very successful in articulating their competence or linking their competence gained in real life situations to the learning objectives of entrepreneurship courses. There is also a lack of models on how to transfer the local, context-bound knowledge into general knowledge (”into the language of concepts and theories”). The common practices, or lack thereof, make it challenging to support the recognition and accreditation of learning. In addition, the recognition and accreditation of learning challenge these teachers’ notion on the role of experiential learning within the higher education curriculum, which is why some teachers in universities hesitate to use them.
Yoop.fi/en supports the implementation or recognition and accreditation of learning that have several benefits from the perspective of the students and the HEIs:
References:
If you would like to have your How to Guide featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the How to Guide.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
If you would like to have your Case Study featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the Case Study.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
If you or your students are interested in developing a business idea, becoming self-employed/freelance or creating a business here are some tools to help and also some links to business start-up support.
These guides have been selected to build QAA (2018) entrepreneurship skills in your teaching.
If you would like to have your How to Guide featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the How to Guide.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
If you would like to have your Case Study featured, please download the template and email the completed version to hello@etctoolkit.org.uk.
We have produced a guidance sheet which will assist you in completing the Case Study.
If you have any questions regarding completing the template, please Contact Us.
