Eye on Entrepreneurs (EoE) is an ongoing collaboration between a Dutch university, entrepreneurs, investors, medium-sized companies, and vocational schools. EoE wants to be wind under the wings of entrepreneurial top talents in university, who learn to 'fly' independently within a year by doing real tasks in an authentic context in a trial and error way. They get to run a company with up to 50 employees, and a minimal turnover of 500.000 euro per year. Each talent gets a coach to support their personal development and a mentor who shares his/her own entrepreneurial expertise, the essentials in their field, like business models, finance or marketing, by a demand-driven educational model. Also, EoE's business networks are at the disposal of the student. Students are activated; already during the admission process they do their research in advance, pitch convincingly, and support their plans with solid arguments. Scouts search for potentials in universities and vocational schools, and ask them to pitch themselves/their plan for a company at an EoE board meeting to be selected. The board of EoE is supported by advisors on entrepreneurial and educational matters. Even though the set-up is still evolving, students prove to learn a lot in a short amount of time. Talents so far have been placed at companies such as an indoor climbing and active sports centre, and a megastore shopping mall. Earlier experiments with entrepreneurship education at the university have shown the importance of dialogue, respect and reciprocal learning when attempting to empower the student and activate him/her. Eye on Entrepreneurs goes beyond teaching the theoretical basis of entrepreneurship, by teaching practical skills in a truly authentic, yet guided learning environment. Besides applying domain specific knowledge, talents get opportunities to practice personal and interpersonal skills in investor meetings, dealing with personnel, and (re)starting company processes. This paper discusses the possibilities for translating the EoE concept to formal (undergraduate) education. What is pivotal? Does a formal learning context bring along advantages? Are there any problems that EoE encounters that could be solved within a university setting? An what would this mean for the competencies and teaching skills of university teaching staff? Based on a case study and case study discussion with practitioners these questions are answered.
Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference in Calgary, Canada, June 18-22 2017
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