SELF is made up of seven partners from five countries (Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Slovakia). The partners come from different educational fields and socio-economic sectors and aim to improve the wealth of knowledge on non-technical and professional skills and competencies relevant to higher education (HE) students aspiring to be solo-entrepreneurs. The partners are University of Malaga, University of Aveiro, EDUCATT, IHF asbl, IDP IT, Internet Web Solution and Comenius University Bratislava.
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In a constantly changing world, where innovation and autonomy are increasingly valued, how can we empower young people to shape their own paths? This is the mission of the SELF project, a European consortium funded by the Erasmus+ programme, in which the University of Aveiro (UA) plays a central role. The SELF project – Self-Learning Entrepreneurship Platform – aims to develop entrepreneurial and socio-emotional competences in higher education students, preparing them to become more autonomous, creative citizens who are ready to face personal and professional challenges. The project brings together partners from several European countries, uniting universities, educational organisations, and companies through a collaborative approach. UA stands out for its dedication to creating educational resources that inspire young people to explore individual entrepreneurship – that is, the ability to design and manage their own projects. This theme is especially relevant in a world where the labour market values initiative, resilience, and the capacity to turn ideas into concrete actions. Recently, UA concluded a major milestone in the project: Work Package 3 (WP3), focused on developing a training programme in individual entrepreneurship. This effort led to the creation of innovative educational materials, organised into modules and learning units, designed to be accessible, practical, and student-centred. Each module focuses on specific competences such as creativity, problem solving, or project management, and is based on the European EntreComp framework. These resources – available in multiple languages, including Portuguese – are offered in digital format and have been designed to meet real student needs, identified through prior analysis, while remaining easily adaptable by teachers and institutions. UA played a key role in coordinating this process. The SELF-UA team led the organisation of the work plan, ensured the quality of content, and facilitated contributions from each partner to develop a coherent and relevant programme. In addition, UA monitored the implementation of WP3, promoting rigorous reviews to guarantee that the materials are clear, useful, and adaptable across educational contexts. The result is a set of tools that foster entrepreneurial competences and strengthen young people’s confidence to approach the future with a proactive mindset. The project reflects UA’s commitment to developing more autonomous and responsible citizens, capable of contributing to a more dynamic and sustainable society. The resources created within the SELF project build a bridge between education and the real world, helping students develop an entrepreneurial vision that will support them throughout life. Want to learn more about how the SELF project is transforming education? Visit the project website at www.solobiz.eu and explore the available resources to inspire your future! Margarida M. Pinheiro margarida.pinheiro@ua.pt, on behalf of the SELF team at UA: Ana Torres, Graça Azevedo, Margarida M. Pinheiro. * Research Centre on Didactics and Technology in the Education of Trainers (CIDTFF), University of Aveiro
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On the 8th of November 2024, the researcher Ana Torres (INESC TEC, ISCA-UA) was interviewed by the programme "90 seconds of science" of the national radio station Antena 1 (Portugal), as a local coordinator at the University of Aveiro of the Erasmus+ SELF project – Solo-entrepreneurship in Postpandemic Europe, within the framework of k-action - 2 KA220-HED - Cooperation partnerships in higher education. The project is led by the University of Malaga (Spain), with the University of Aveiro among the partners of 7 participating organizations from 5 different countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Slovakia). In the interview, the researcher disclosed that the SELF project is an initiative that aims to develop entrepreneurship in young people in higher education, as well as promote innovation and initiative among young adults in transition to the labor market. In this sense, the SELF project's mission is to promote the individual capacities of young people in higher education in order to better prepare them to integrate the job market, based on the new challenges and employment paradigms created in post-pandemic Europe. This project also aims to help young people overcome the fragmentation of the job market that currently exists in Europe, providing them with skills and digital tools that allow them to work remotely anywhere in the world. In this sense, this project offers training through e-learning programs, as well as the creation of a platform called "SELF Digital Warehouse", where educational tools and resources will be provided and where the results of the project will also be disseminated. The SELF project – Solo-entrepreneurship in Post-pandemic Europe is funded by the Erasmus+ programme. Link to the interview: https://www.90segundosdeciencia.pt/episodes/ep-1880-ana-torres/
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The University of Aveiro, leading Workpackage 3 (WP3) in the Erasmus+ funded project "SELF - Solo Entrepreneurs Learning Framework," proudly announces that all training modules in English for the project are now complete. This significant milestone marks a pivotal moment in the development of educational content aimed at enhancing students' entrepreneurial skills across Europe. This completion is not just about the availability of content; it is about empowering young entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed in a rapidly evolving world. This initiative aligns with the EU's holistic approach to support self-entrepreneurs, focusing on young people, higher education students, and graduates by addressing socioeconomic disparities and enhancing essential skills. WP3 specifically aims to: Consolidate Training Material: Develop and refine educational content for HE students, emphasizing skills, attitudes, and knowledge crucial for aspiring solo-entrepreneurs. Strengthen Entrepreneurial Competence: At a transnational level, enhance opportunities for entrepreneurial competence building, upskilling, and reskilling. Promote Innovative Pedagogies: Implement trans-disciplinary approaches and student-centered curricula to support the acquisition of forward-looking skills and entrepreneurship. With these targets in mind, WP3 has achieved the following Key Achievements of WP3: Completion of English Training Modules: Each module, designed as micro-credentials, addresses specific entrepreneurial competencies from EntreComp, offering concise educational content, now fully available in English. Innovative Learning Approach: These modules have been crafted to foster a new generation of self-employed professionals, ready to navigate a digitally unified European labor market, by enhancing self-employment pathways for higher education students. The next phase of WP3, will involve translating these modules into partners' national languages, ensuring that the educational materials are accessible and useful to students in their local contexts across the participating countries. This step is crucial for the broader dissemination and application of the training program, contributing to the project's overarching goals of promoting innovation in entrepreneurship education and supporting a co-participated educational approach between higher education institutions and the private sector.
Read MoreDevelopment of solo-entrepreneurship curricula, tools, training and resources for self-employment
innovative training solutions to capitalise on the opportunities of solo-entrepreneurship and related socio-economic empowerment.
highlighting insightful inputs on success features on entrepreneurship competence building initiatives for HE students
