The Entrepreneurship as a Key to a Good Life project promotes education in entrepreneurship
in Southern Tampere Region in Finland

The objective of the Entrepreneurship as a Key to a Good Life project is to promote entrepreneurship studies and an entrepreneurial attitude to life in the vocational institute and upper secondary schools in Southern Tampere Region. Participants in the project have included Toijala Upper Secondary School, Valkeakoski Upper Secondary School, Valkeakoski Vocational Institute, Viiala Upper Secondary School and Väinö Linna Upper Secondary School in Urjala. In total, 130 teachers and 1,300 students have taken part in the project. Other contributors to the development efforts included representatives of educational institutions, universities and enterprises as well as local entrepreneurs and business organisations.

The project is coordinated by the Development Agency of Valkeakoski Region with Katriina Huvi acting as Project Manager. The project is funded with European Social Fund resources and State aid granted by the State Provincial Office of Western Finland. Other contributors include local and regional governments in Southern Tampere Region. The project was launched in August 2005 and is due to finish on 31 December 2007.

Getting to grips with entrepreneurship
The two-year project has increased understanding of entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial attitude to life amongst parents, students and teachers of the region’s upper secondary level educational institutions, in other words the vocational institute and upper secondary schools.

Sights set on formulating entrepreneurship curricula and promoting a positive attitude
The Entrepreneurship as a Key to a Good Life project set out to promote a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship and to formulate curricula for entrepreneurship studies in schools. Both goals have been achieved.

Training for teachers of entrepreneurship studies
Teachers are given further training to enable them to address themes relating to entrepreneurship in their respective subjects and to also teach the basic facts of entrepreneurship if necessary. As a result of the training, the local upper secondary schools now each have their own curriculum for entrepreneurship studies and the degree courses in the vocational institute each have an entrepreneurship curriculum tailored for the subject in question.

Information and understanding for students
Students are now much more knowledgeable about entrepreneurship than before. For example, they have visited local enterprises and studied entrepreneurship issues in class. Around 1,500 students have taken part in entrepreneurship seminars.

Analysis on future prospects: is there profit in entrepreneurship in Southern Tampere Region?
Scenarios of the region’s future prospects were produced to support the development efforts. The production team comprised 20 people and was lead by futurists.

Attitudes towards entrepreneurship now more positive
The attitudes of students, teachers and parents towards entrepreneurship were surveyed twice during the project. Around 50% of the people who were approached took part in the survey (sample: 1,300 students, 130 teachers and parents). Students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship were already positive and interested at the start of the project. Teachers’ attitudes improved substantially over the course of the project.

Entrepreneurship teams set up to support entrepreneurship studies in upper secondary schools
The entrepreneurship teams’ aim is to establish connections between local enterprises and the schools. The teams convene a couple of times a year to plan entrepreneurship studies for the following semester.

For more information, please contact:
katriina.huvi@vaske.fi