“Entrepreneurship Education for Cultural Tourism” is a Strategic Partnership in the field of Youth, supported by Erasmus plus Programme. The project consortium is led by Youth Mobility -Denmark and the other partners organisations are: Asociación Projuven - Spain, Associazione di Promozione Sociale Futuro Digitale – Italy and Asociatia GEYC – Romania.
The context
In particular, regional youth unemployment rates varied widely across the EU-28
(Eurostat, 2015) and amongst the EECT partner countries, with the lowest rate in the
Danish region of Siddanmark (11.4%) and the Romanian region of București-Ilfov (14.6%)
while with the highest rates in the Spanish region of Andalucia (56.8%) and the Italian
region of Calabria (65.1%), where the partners of the SP have their main office. In these
regions and in the countries of the SP, youths focus more on their values on selfdevelopment
or on the chance to extend their network, in other words, something that
could be achieved only through entrepreneurship.
Sharing youth common interests in European cultural tourism (as an important source of employment) and Entrepreneurship Education, we aim to encourage and promote new conditions of a more flexible and globalized labour market, fostering the self-development of youth. Cultural tourism became an issue in times of crisis. The labour market is constantly developing towards this direction, thus there is a strong need to have young professionals involved in the tourism market equipped with new skills and the capacity to offer tourism services with social approach.
Sharing youth common interests in European cultural tourism (as an important source of employment) and Entrepreneurship Education, we aim to encourage and promote new conditions of a more flexible and globalized labour market, fostering the self-development of youth. Cultural tourism became an issue in times of crisis. The labour market is constantly developing towards this direction, thus there is a strong need to have young professionals involved in the tourism market equipped with new skills and the capacity to offer tourism services with social approach.
Specific objectives
- To offer non-formal education on cultural tourism entrepreneurship to disadvantaged groups. In particular, young people at risk of social exclusion may greatly benefit from this type of training. It can raise the motivation of those who learn best by doing, and who have difficulties in more traditional subjects.
- To develop a new training methodology based on the blended mentoring method to foster creative thinking, entrepreneurship thinking competence supporting the matching between young participants’ expectations and the labour market.
- To promote learning mobility of young participants.
- To Increase employability through not yet wide-spread competences.
- To foster inclusive education which combat any kind of discrimination or racism in order to strengthen social ties as well as generate a sense of belonging.
- To support young people entrepreneurship inter-alia via entrepreneurship education, support to start-up funds, mentoring programmes, and encourage recognition of junior enterprises.
- To support the development of better knowledge about Entrepreneurship Education (specifically applied to cultural tourism) through support to youth research, research networks, specific studies, etc.
- To strengthen cooperation with local and regional authorities.
- To make effective use and facilitating the access of young people to EU funds and programmes.
- To encourage formal education and non-formal learning in support of young people’s innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
Activities
- Output 1: Online Platform. Futuro Digitale (Output leader)
An online platform will be set up, using open source software, in order to create an online space as connection for project target groups (young NEETs, young people with fewer opportunities), and dissemination of project events, progress and deliverables. The idea is to create an interactive learning platform with user-friendly interface, test evaluations, interactive exercises and videos that will encourage involvement of the target group.
- Output 2: MOOC "Entrepreneurship in cultural tourism". PROJUVEN (Output leader), September - October 2017 (online)
The project partners will develop Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in entrepreneurship cultural tourism, a specific guided path for EECT participants so that they will be able once completed the MOOC to develop their cultural tourism entrepreneurship business idea. The MOOC will be divided in 8 modules and there will be quizzes incorporated within each module and participants have to participate on all online discussion forums for each module.
- Output 3: Digital Guide on Entrepreneur Profiles in the cultural tourism sector. GEYC (Output leader).
The EECT project addressed the shortage of skilled young entrepreneurs in the cultural tourism sector, a shortage that is due to its recent emergence. EU reports recognize the endurance of the cultural tourism sector during these first years of hard economic pressures to the European Economy. Furthermore, they report a higher percentage of youth employment than other economic sectors, recognizing the untapped potential of the culture tourism sector and call for action.
- Output 4: Training Guidelines in the field of culture tourism entrepreneurship. Youth Mobility Denmark (output leader).
- Blended Short term event: Italy, Terranova da Sibari, 29 November - 7 December 2017, 4 participants per partner
The blended mobility will allow us to implement, through an innovative practical approach, blended learning method, and to evaluate the knowledge package for youth entrepreneurs, having a direct impact in the target group and testing their achievements. Therefore, both the target group and the partners will benefit of those experiences by addressing in first person the training experience, putting into practice all the materials developed in the Intellectual O1 and O2. Moreover, these activities will encourage the transfer of knowledge, synergies and good practices between participants and trainers, as well as a transnational exchange of ideas, feedbacks and best practices identified through a collaborative environment both, online (through the platform) and face-to-face (transnational meetings). During the blended mobility participants will realize a business model canvas* and present their business idea through this model the last day of mobility. Finally, the results of the training activities will be disseminated by different resources and also used to raise awareness about the necessities of the target group and the benefits they can achieve through that approach.
An online platform will be set up, using open source software, in order to create an online space as connection for project target groups (young NEETs, young people with fewer opportunities), and dissemination of project events, progress and deliverables. The idea is to create an interactive learning platform with user-friendly interface, test evaluations, interactive exercises and videos that will encourage involvement of the target group.
- Output 2: MOOC "Entrepreneurship in cultural tourism". PROJUVEN (Output leader), September - October 2017 (online)
The project partners will develop Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in entrepreneurship cultural tourism, a specific guided path for EECT participants so that they will be able once completed the MOOC to develop their cultural tourism entrepreneurship business idea. The MOOC will be divided in 8 modules and there will be quizzes incorporated within each module and participants have to participate on all online discussion forums for each module.
- Output 3: Digital Guide on Entrepreneur Profiles in the cultural tourism sector. GEYC (Output leader).
The EECT project addressed the shortage of skilled young entrepreneurs in the cultural tourism sector, a shortage that is due to its recent emergence. EU reports recognize the endurance of the cultural tourism sector during these first years of hard economic pressures to the European Economy. Furthermore, they report a higher percentage of youth employment than other economic sectors, recognizing the untapped potential of the culture tourism sector and call for action.
- Output 4: Training Guidelines in the field of culture tourism entrepreneurship. Youth Mobility Denmark (output leader).
- Blended Short term event: Italy, Terranova da Sibari, 29 November - 7 December 2017, 4 participants per partner
The blended mobility will allow us to implement, through an innovative practical approach, blended learning method, and to evaluate the knowledge package for youth entrepreneurs, having a direct impact in the target group and testing their achievements. Therefore, both the target group and the partners will benefit of those experiences by addressing in first person the training experience, putting into practice all the materials developed in the Intellectual O1 and O2. Moreover, these activities will encourage the transfer of knowledge, synergies and good practices between participants and trainers, as well as a transnational exchange of ideas, feedbacks and best practices identified through a collaborative environment both, online (through the platform) and face-to-face (transnational meetings). During the blended mobility participants will realize a business model canvas* and present their business idea through this model the last day of mobility. Finally, the results of the training activities will be disseminated by different resources and also used to raise awareness about the necessities of the target group and the benefits they can achieve through that approach.
