Entrepreneurial skills from the first days of student life

Several actions identified and/or aligned with domain 4 are involved in the implementation of this Good Practices.

Concerning the “Development and Improvement of Entrepreneurial Curricula” (within degree programs), existing curricula have been evaluated and courses at the different partner universities have been mapped to identify best practices of entrepreneurial curricula and areas of improvement. Concerning the “Develop innovation and entrepreneurial training programmes and mentoring schemes for staff and students” (microcredential course), acquired data have been used to create a tailored entrepreneurship training program that addresses specific needs and demands.

Except from domain 4 specific actions, other important actions have been put in place within this Good Practice:

• Development of International Entrepreneurial Training Programs (extracurricular activities, elective courses): a concept paper that outlines how consortium partners’ staff and students can access each other’s virtual courses on innovation and entrepreneurship has been created and implemented to enhance collaboration and resources sharing among partner institutions.
• Development of Training Courses and Train-the-Trainer Programs: training courses focused on entrepreneurship and innovation together with some train-the-trainer programs have been created and implemented to ensure effective delivery and sustainability of these courses across the consortium.
• Development of International Innovation Training Programs (extracurricular activities, elective courses): a concept paper on Virtual Course Access has been created and implemented to ensure that virtual courses on entrepreneurship and innovation are available and participated by students and staff from at least two consortium partners to promote cross-institutional learning and collaboration.

By aligning these good practices with the specified actions and deliverables in the work packages, the project ensures a comprehensive and interconnected approach to developing and enhancing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems within the university and among consortium partners.

The project’s purpose is to develop the multilayer innovation ecosystem within the University and for University’s benefits by audit the educational and infrastructural services via the prism of partners best practices; implementation of own and partner’s innovation courses; creating a new paradigm of classical University curriculums with the obligatory Entrepreneurship skill competency.

Within the framework of the INTREPID-HEI project, a structure of the University’s innovation ecosystem has been created and streamlined, aimed at expanding the participation of higher education students of all levels and researchers of the University, creating startups, participating in hackathons, and commercialization of the research ideas.

The innovative economic system performs the following main functions: educational, organizational, informational, communication, financial, and marketing.

To achieve this purpose the following steps have been taken:

• A survey conducted among 882 students and graduates by the Employment Center of the University demonstrated the need to strengthen the development of innovative and entrepreneurial skills among students (Critical thinking, Creativity, People management, Cooperation with others, Emotional intelligence, Service orientation, Cognitive flexibility). For this purpose, courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students have been changed.
• The content of online courses and materials for lectures and practical classes was created after studying the literature, using personal experience and results of professional development practice, and participation in international projects and events.
• The course “Selected sections of Labor Law and the Basics of Entrepreneurial Activity” for undergraduates of all faculties has been improved, in particular with lectures dedicated to the University’s innovative ecosystem and the development of startups.
• To develop innovative competencies of higher education students, online courses “Startups and Entrepreneurship” and “IT Solution Fundamentals for Innovators” have been developed.
• The thematic module “Entrepreneurship and Startup” has been developed for postgraduate students in their 1st year of studies at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University.

A catalog of academic disciplines that will be included in the development of an on-demand entrepreneurship training program (micro credentials) has been developed. Audit and Methodology. 2 levels, 2 sectoral areas

1. Thematic selection of courses
2. Sorting by difficulty level:

– basic courses (development of initial competencies). For students enrolled in programs of natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, engineering, health care, etc.

– advanced courses (further development of the previously mastered entrepreneurial competencies). They are aimed at the students majoring in 076 Entrepreneurship and Trade or within the broader area of 07 Management and Administration. Also, these courses can be focused on the professional development of adults who do not have basic education but have practical experience.

3. For non-professionals, we divide the programme into two groups according to the specifics of economic activity: tangible (natural sciences, engineering, health care) and non-tangible production (humanities, social sciences).
4. One or more micro-credential programmes may be formed for each of these groups of courses. That is, these grouped courses can be used in the development of programmes (certificate programmes) that are aimed at obtaining micro-credentials at the 6th or 7th level of the Qualification Framework with quality assurance.

The advantage of this approach is the quality assurance of all selected courses and the teachers who teach them, and the established compliance with the Qualifications Framework.

Such courses can be offered as a selective component or separate certificate programmes, or they can be included as compulsory components when developing new programmes.

Further improvement is carried out by taking into account the feedback of the students of the relevant programmes.