Entrepreneurship as a mindset and as part of the learners’ curricula is clearly recognized as one of the crucial issues for VET. ETF has promoted collaboration between Cometa Formazione, VET school operating in Como based on the School-Enterprise approach, and the Center for the Development of Youth Entrepreneurship (CDYE) of Faculty of Economics of Belarusian State University. The aim of the collaboration is the mutual exchange of methodologies and practices in this field.
After a first training organized in Cometa for 12 Belarusian delegates from the CDYE and the Belarusian Ministry of Education in July 2018, a second visit to Belarus was funded by the MOST program for 5 Italian delegates to know and meet the most relevant VET and school initiatives in this field. The Italian delegation included the CEO (Alessandro Mele), the coordinator of International affairs and Research (Paolo Nardi), one teacher (Ekaterina Grishanova) and one tutor (Carlo Gorgoglione) from Cometa; the fifth delegate was Stefano Soliano, CEO of ComoNext, one of the emerging Innovation Hub in Italy.
At the institutional level, a very fruitful meeting at the Ministry of Education gave the kick-off for a stronger collaboration with Cometa to implement Education to Entrepreneurship into the curriculum; the next visit of Belarusian stakeholders to Cometa (February 2020) will be focused on this task.
A Partnership Agreement was discussed during a meeting between Cometa and RIPO (the Belarusian National Institute for VET) to cooperate on the development of VET and HVET, through future projects, training activities and cultural events. The Agreement has been formally signed at the end of October 2019.
During the visit, the Italian delegates had the opportunity to meet the students and postgraduate students of the Philological Faculty of the Belarusian State University; in the following meeting with the Deans of Economics, Philology and Tourism we discussed an Agreement to promote internship in Italy. The meeting with the National Centre of Arts for Youth and Children gave a very interesting overview of some activities Belarusian Ministry promotes to foster soft skills and creativity. During the visit at “Kontakt”, the Centre of Additional Education for Youth and Children at the Central District of Minsk, more than 20 entrepreneurial projects developed by students and teachers have presented to the Italian guests: an impressive showcase of creativity, digital skills, working in team, local culture.
Not only IVET but also lifelong learning and entrepreneurial activities have been included in the program: Cometa and ComoNext met some Innovation Hubs and Incubators active in Minsk; new collaborations on entrepreneurial learning and start-ups incubation have been discussed among the participants. In 2020 new visits on this purpose have been already requested by Belarusian partners.
For more information on the Entrepreneurship approach in Cometa and the Thematic Team on Innovative Learning for Entrepreneurship: paolo.nardi@puntocometa.org).
