Entrepreneurship Education
St Mary’s University College showcased its pioneering work in promoting entrepreneurship education in teacher education at a high-level EU event in Dublin on
3-6 May. Called by the European Commission, the meeting gathered education experts from all twenty-seven EU countries, in addition to candidate countries such as Croatia and Turkey as well as Palestine. The aim of the meeting was to evaluate options for advancing entrepreneurship education in teacher education across all member countries and to share best practice. St Mary’s pioneering work in preparing teachers to adapt curriculum and teaching to ensure young people are better prepared for the labour market was selected by the European Commission as a model for other teacher education institutes across the EU.
Presenting the St Mary’s case study, Frank Hennessey, Head of Business Studies, underlined the importance of the College playing its part in building bridges between education and the economy.
Aspects of St Mary’s work highlighted at the international meeting included the College Certificate in Entrepreneurial Learning, which runs alongside the BEd degree programme, and the social entrepreneurship theme, which encourages students to consider how their entrepreneurship skills can contribute to their wider community.
Marko Curavic, Director of Entrepreneurship at the European Commission, praised the initiative of St Mary’s as a learning model for other teacher education institutions in the European Union.
'What stands out is St Mary’s pioneering approach to educating the next generation of teachers, which fits well with the 2020 Strategy', said Curavic, referring to the EU’s growth and jobs plan.
Speaking after the meeting, Professor Peter Finn, Principal of St Mary’s, said he was delighted that the vision, dedication and hard work of his staff had been acknowledged at international level and welcomed participants to Belfast to see at first-hand how the University College had built up its entrepreneurship education programme.
'The entrepreneurs of tomorrow are in our schools today, which is why we need to ensure our student teachers are well prepared to promote entrepreneurial learning', said Professor Finn.