Indicator 1 Entrepreneurial Learning promotion in Secondary Education (general and vocational) Rationale secondary education plays a critical role in promoting the employability of young people both as an employee, self-employment or as a future entrepreneur. Objective Upper secondary education promotes entrepreneurship as a key competence and entrepreneurship skills of young people Level 1 Entrepreneurial learning is promoted at secondary education through ad-hoc initiatives. Level 2 National policy dialogue for developing entrepreneurial learning in secondary education is ongoing. There are initiatives of school-enterprise cooperation dedicated to entrepreneurial learning. 3 Entrepreneurial learning is part of national policy and includes school-enterprise cooperation. There are examples where entrepreneurship as a key competence is applied at school level and which are known to the education authorities. Level 4 A dedicated action plan for entrepreneurial learning exists, with monitoring and evaluation arrangements and financial support. At least 10 % of all upper secondary schools have established structured partnerships with enterprises dedicated to entrepreneurial learning. Upper secondary school teachers have access to in-service teacher training for entrepreneurship as a key competence. Level 5 Entrepreneurship as a key competence is included in the national curriculum. All upper secondary schools provide data on range of entrepreneurial learning activities for the purpose of monitoring, evaluation and further policy development at national level. Justification Key sources Next steps
Rationale SMEs working in international markets are more innovative, more competitive and generate more employment. Businesses from European Union’s Southern Neighbourhood stand to gain through greater internationalisation which in turn brings value and prosperity to home nations. Further, European neighbourhood policy, which applies to all countries undertaking this SBA assessment, provides for more gradual integration of each country with the EU internal market. Training has an important role to play in supporting the SMEs to access European and wider markets. While SME internationalisation may include areas such as foreign direct investment, importing and technical cooperation, for the purposes of this indicator, internationalisation refers to SMEs capacity to export. Objective The objective of this indicator is to boost SMEs export potential through enhanced knowledge and skills. Note Training should be considered in its widest sense and may include coaching, mentoring, The defining factor is that the activity must have a specific learning outcome(s). For the purposes of this indicator trade missions, international trade fairs or advice & consultancy services do not satisfy the training requirements of the indicator unless they have a specific and clearly articulated learning outcome. Also networking as an activity is not recognised as training unless it has a specific learning outcome(s). Level 1 Ad hoc training services related to some aspects of SME internationalisation are available. At this level there are examples of training programmes to support SME internationalization but without a clear policy context. These could include regulatory training for specific sectors (e.g. trading with the EU or more generic training (e.g. applied language training for new markets i.e. how to negotiate a deal and finalise a commercial contract with Chinese customers). Trade fairs are not training events but are information and networking events and would therefore not be sufficient evidence for the indicator unless the trade fair is part of a wider learning programme. See example from Enterprise Lithuania (Annex 4) which was an ETF good practice in 2015. Level 2 Bullet 1 Policy dialogue on development of training for SME internationalisation. This bullet requires evidence that training to support SME internationalisation has already engaged policy interest. While it does not require a specific policy position (required at Level 3), it does demand that discussions on policy options are at least being considered between at least two stakeholder organisations. Examples to satisfy this bullet are:
Examples of evidence: An evaluation of a cross-border cooperation programme recommended the promotion of twinning between businesses in common sectors for knowledge-sharing purposes. An SME network with a dedicated on-line platform has been established amongst businesses from both sides of the border and where know-how exchange between businesses takes place; A review of an SME programme supporting business internationalisation highlighted the need to help businesses to determine what support they required to enter foreign markets. An export toolkit was elaborated to allow businesses to determine if, how and when the business should internationalise. This included options for training and know-how transfer; Recommendations from an evaluation of SMEs in the transport sector underlined the need for more developed support for training on environmental protection. The National Road Hauliers’ Association, in cooperation with a technology university, elaborated and delivered a series of seminars addressed to road hauliers. Good Practice A good practice is attached at Annex 4 demonstrating some of the key features of this indicator, in particular how the monitoring and evaluation of the training practice has impacted on business performance, including further policy interest from government leading to a widening of the programme.
Annex 1 List of National SBA Coordinators Algeria Mr Telailia Abdellah Ministère de l'industrie et des Directeur d’Etudes, et Coordinateur National Charte/SBA Egypt Mr Taha Mohamed Amr Industrial Modernization Centre (IMC) Deputy Director for International Relations Israel Mr Ben Aharon Nir &Medium Business Agency, Ministry of Industry, Trade & Labor Head of Research & Policy Department ; Jordan Ms Hussein Mira Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation SBA Coordinator/ Cross-cutting Directorate Director Lebanon Ms Yassine Manal Ministry of Industry Economic Researcher Morocco Mr Berrada Gouzi Ali Agence Nationale pour la Promotion de la Petite et Moyenne Entreprise Chargé de mission ; Palestine Ms Ibrahim Manal Ministry of National Economy Acting General Director for Industry and Natural Resources ; Tunisia Mr Neffati Wajdi Agence de promotion de l'industrie et de l'innovation Chef de service en charge de la coopération internationale