Reinforcing entrepreneurship in adults

Location:

Usak, Turkey

Period of implementation:

2015-2017

Field of activity – formal/informal/non-formal:

International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation
Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship)
Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Funding sources:

EU grant

Overall cost/budget:

€234,425

Target group:

The project focused on those who wants to start their own business but did not have necessary skills and know-how, unemployed graduates.

Implementing organization/lead organization:

Coordinator: UNIVERSITY OF USAK (TR)
Partners:
- CYNOVUS YN LIMITED (CY)
- SELENA ITALY (IT)
- CAMBRA OFICIAL DE COMERC INDUSTRIAI SERVEIS DE SABADELL (ES)
- NIKANOR LTD (BG)
- CENTRE TECNOLOGIC FORESTAL DE CATALUNYA (ES)
- SMEBOX AB (SE)
- EUROPEAN REGIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR CO-OPERATION (EL)
- UNI.VERSUS – CSEI – CONSORZIO UNIVERSITARIO PER LA FORMAZIONE E L’INNOVAZIONE (IT)
- Agentur für Grundlagen- und angewandte Forschung AGRAF gUG (haftungsbeschränkt) (DE)

Contact info:

Eser YEŞİLDAĞ:
- tel: +90 506 405 84 66
- email: eser.yesildag@usak.edu.tr

Resources:

The target group needs identified; There was surveys conducted to the unemployed graduates to analyze the needs of the target group and also another survey was conducted to the industry representatives to identify the needs of the labor market
Entrepreneurial course materials, tools and activities transferred, translated and adapted in each piloting country; The participating institutions created on-line courses with new 6 educational modules, animation videos and e-marketing platform for new international marketing strategies. 8 power-point presentations per each module were created and they were supported by voice texts in English. The tools were translated into English, Turkish, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Bulgarian and Swedish.
E-learning platform developed with simulations, case studies and activities focused upon entrepreneurship enhancement; The entrepreneurial tools were published on the e-learning platform. The target group can register on the website to join the Online courses and use the educational Online materials
Blended learning course organized and piloted in 3 countries for enrolling 75 participants (the participants were selected by various sectors in order to create interdisciplinary synergy.
Training and tutoring provided to the learners’ groups;
12 trainers trained in short term joint staff transnational courses/ 4 trainer per pilot group The trainers of the pilot groups went to the module holder institution for shot term courses, to see the best practices and share experiences for 5 days
Booklet & Guide: participating institutions created a booklet for target group in order to show pathways to entrepreneurs. And also the activities and the outcomes of the projects were presented in this booklet
DVD Online course and animation videos were installed on a DVD for disseminating the project to the relevant stakeholders. Additionally this DVD was provided available for those who want to take the courses after registering on the web portal
University – industry relationships developed
Partnership culture was developed and this enhanced and promoted international and inter institutional cooperation and coordination.

Challenge or social need:

There are significant problems in the unemployed graduates: The integration of unemployed graduates into the labor market by enhancing their entrepreneurship skills and competencies. And the needs of those who want to start their own business but did not have necessary skills and know-how. The fear of unemployment and changes in today’s labor market inspired people to look for new paths to find a new workplace and/or to create their own. Therefore, the main goal of the REAL project is to help unemployed people to integrate into the labor market by becoming entrepreneurs and creating their own work place.

Description:

The goal of the REAL project is to contribute to the integration of unemployed graduates into the labor market by enhancing their entrepreneurship skills and competencies.

Benefits/success factors/ measurement of success:

The project focused on the needs of those who want to start their own business but did not have necessary skills and know-how. The fear of unemployment and changes in today’s labor market inspired people to look for new paths to find a new workplace and/or to create their own. The project’s main objective is to transfer and develop the innovative e-learning platform and blended course contents and activities focused upon entrepreneurship enhancement. The project is aiming to implement a realistic, competitive and sustainable Virtual Learning Community, which promotes a specific entrepreneurial training/mentoring program offering an integrated guidance to entrepreneurs from the early stage of motivation and idea generation through a personalized support in implementing business projects.

Critical points/weaknesses:

–

Sustainability characteristics:

The fact that the current project outputs consist of digital materials will enable it to reach many beneficiaries over the years.

Transferability characteristics:

These objectives of the project enable transferability:

to identify the needs of the unemployed youth and labor market
improving the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to the young peoples’ relevance for the labor market
supporting participants in training and further training activities in the acquisition and the use of knowledge, skills and qualifications to facilitate personal development, employability and participation in the European labor market
fostering quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalization at the level of participating education and training institutions, in particular through enhanced transnational cooperation
promoting entrepreneurship education to develop active citizenship, employability and new-business creation
increasing participation in learning and employability between education and training providers and other stakeholders
developing the basic competencies of target group
developing the university – industry and labor market relations
developing interdisciplinary and international cooperation of the organizations from different sectors.

Inclusive characteristics/Innovative elements:

Thanks to large-scale project outputs and both visual and written materials, rich outputs that can offer alternatives to each other were presented.