It has become a topic at Dutch educational institutes to feel not only responsible for improvement of theoretical and practical skills, but also of 'competences' in a wider sense. The curriculum of the Fontys University of Applied Sciences (32.000 students) and especially the Electrical and Electronic (E&E) Department has changed enormously in the past decade. At the E&E department we introduced two different ways of working on competences. In the first years of their study students choose different roles in several projects. We have described all the roles and the related tasks for each specific role. While working on a role, the students indirectly work on different competences. This method of working enforces a higher educational level (a student shouldn't work on things he already knows or is able to handle) and the passenger behaviour is reduced. Students now do take responsibility while contributing to the project teams. Inquiries amongst the students confirm these results. Due to a clear role description and individual assessments The second method is working on the specific engineering competences in their traineeship and thesis work in the last part of their study. This was first introduced in the Autumn of 2005 in the E&E department of Fontys.
MULTIFILE
From the article: "The vast amount of previous research on project management competence does not provide a basis for educational needs. Analyzing previous research poses two challenges: the lack of a uniform list of competences, necessitating a taxonomy, and the use of importance as a criterion, favoring general important competences. Criticality is introduced as the competence a project manager adds to the team. Validation research using criticality and the taxonomy among experienced Dutch project managers is more comprehensive and provides a less focus on general important competences than previous research. Criticality focuses more on the essence of the profession."
MULTIFILE
Workshop summaryIn this workshop we work together with the participants towards concrete steps that educators could take to promote inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. Nowadays, entrepreneurial ecosystems do not provide all entrepreneurs equal access to opportunities, resources, and support. Specifically, entrepreneurial ecosystems remain heavily male-dominated with women and other underrepresented groups facing challenges to access resources and grow their ventures due to a range of (institutional) barriers. This lack of inclusivity is problematic as it limits the release of untapped entrepreneurial potential necessary to maximize the societal and economic benefits of entrepreneurship. During this workshop we want to engage in discussions and propose actions to be undertaken by educators and HEI’s to foster the inclusivity of their institutional and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem in which they are embedded. By using the ‘inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem framework’, we want to raise awareness of this topic and share actionable ideas that participants can implement in their daily practices.
MULTIFILE