The “Empowering the Future: A Game-Changing Entrepreneurship Program for VET Students” project has begun, aiming to enhance entrepreneurial education for students in vocational training. The project is a collaboration between Puskás Tivadar Vocational School (Romania), StartUp HUB Association (Romania), Heves County SZC Március 15. Technical School, Vocational School, and Boarding School (Hungary), and Budapest Mobility Ltd. The project kickoff meeting took place in Budapest from May 20 to 24, organized by Budapest Mobility Ltd. During the five-day event, each partner was represented by six delegates who introduced themselves and explained their roles in the project.
On the first day of the meeting, Zsolt Karácsony, Head of the StartUp HUB Entrepreneurship Developement Program Department, emphasized the importance of business development and its positive societal and economic impact. Subsequently, they participated in collaborative workshops discussing the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurial education for vocational school students. In the afternoon, they visited the Hungarian Music House, which serves as a successful example of collaboration between art and cultural enterprises.
The second day of workshops focused on addressing the challenges discussed the previous day. Participants explored various development areas, including curriculum changes and student motivation. They recommended integrating more practical entrepreneurial activities into the curriculum and using interactive, student-centered methods. Additionally, they proposed organizing regular workshops, guest lectures, and startup visits.
On the third day, the partners discussed the details of planned activities and participated in team-building boat tours.
The following day, at the Soós István Winemaking Technical School and Vocational School, they held a roundtable discussion on expanding entrepreneurial competencies through Erasmus+ mobility programs. Dr. Krisztián Kapus, CEO of Budapest Mobility, delivered the opening presentation, while Kaiser Péter, Head of the Central Hungarian Agricultural Vocational Training Center, introduced the keynote. The conference’s featured speaker was Krisztina Vujkov, Chief Government Advisor for Vocational Education.
During the last day of the meeting, participants reviewed the results achieved in the preceding days, collected proposals, and discussed next steps. The next meeting will take place in Sepsiszentgyörgy, Romania.
This initiative is part of the KA210-VET program, specifically targeting small-scale partnerships in vocational education. The project, initiated under project code 2023-2-RO01-KA210-VET-000181869, received funding from the Romanian National Agency within the framework of the Erasmus+ program.