Entrepreneurial Education Network
The Entrepreneurial Education Network wishes to unite professionals in entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship, who work in and around higher education. With bi-monthly meet-ups, we provide opportunities to exchange ideas and experiences, meet like-minded colleagues from other institutions and network.
What is EEN?
The Entrepreneurial Education Network (EEN) is initiated by the Strategic Alliance between Utrecht University, UMC Utrecht, Eindhoven University of Technology and Wageningen University & Research. This network aims to unite all parties involved in entrepreneurial learning in higher education.
The EEN will foster cross-institutional collaboration by:
- Being the point of contact for all involved stakeholders;
- Driving the dialogue about entrepreneurial learning, to learn from each other’s practices;
- Stimulating the implementation of state-of-the-art entrepreneurial education practices;
- Advocating on behalf of all entrepreneurial educators on issues that are more systemic to national organizations like VSNU, ministries, etc.
4 times a year: (online) meet-ups
In order to drive the dialogue and connect entrepreneurial educators we organise bi-monthly (online) network events, in which we aim to unite a diverse group of people working in education, policy, incubators and KTO's. Here we will discuss all kinds of pressing issues and open up the discussion for all interested stakeholders.
These meet-ups are organised to keep an open flow of communication among the different entrepreneurship education practitioners, but also serves as a platform to share best practices and learn from each other.
For whom is the EEN?
Anyone interested in entrepreneurial education in higher education can join our network. Whether you're an educator or teacher of entrepreneurship education, an entrepreneurial education researcher, policy maker, incubator, KTO or other support staff member or (PhD) student interested in entrepreneurial learning - you're more than welcome at our events. The purpose is to learn from each other and strenghten both entrepreneurial education and the entrepreneurial ecosystem of higher education institutes. The EEN focuses on The Netherlands, but is open for interested parties from abroad.
Our (online) meet-ups are highly interactive, and offer a lot of opportunity to exchange experiences and good practices, meet like-minded educators and network.
Why EEN?
In an ever-changing world, with problems and processes becoming more complex, it is apparent that future university alumni need a wide set of competencies. These competencies do not only relate to their discipline, but also to broader competencies like the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. Alumni will - in any job they pursue - need to find opportunities, act on them and work together with others to achieve their goals. They will need to develop entrepreneurial competencies to be able to respond to the complex challenges that our current society is faced with.
Universities play a crucial role in the development of these competencies. In both research universities and applied universities in The Netherlands, people are getting to terms with the fact that entrepreneurial competences need a central place within the curriculum (intra-curricular) and outside of the curriculum (extracurricular). Whether this is giving workshops on creativity or valuing ideas to help students build their own startup; many teachers and university staff are involved in this type of education.
However, at this moment a lot of knowledge on how to tackle issues related to entrepreneurial education is spread over several institutions. There is little to no dialogue between entrepreneurship educators, support staff, and entrepreneurial education researchers, across the different higher education institutes. This causes the wheel to be reinvented again and again, and issues that transcend the course level are not dealt with in a structural manner. It is therefore necessary to start an Entrepreneurial Education Network in the Netherlands. The Strategic Alliance of Utrecht University, UMC Utrecht, Eindhoven University of Technology and Wageningen University & Research is happy to take the lead.
The UU Centre for Entrepreneurship is the point of contact regarding the EEN. Feel free to contact us at entrepreneurship@uu.nl
Join the network!
Would you like to get in touch with other entrepreneurship educators? To learn from each other, exchange experiences and ideas and maybe even work together on a course or research project? Join our network and never miss a meet-up! We will keep you informed of our activities through mailings.
Interested in entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurship at Utrecht University? Sign up here for the monthly newsletter of the UU Centre for Entrepreneurship.