Bhutan, Nepal & Laos are facing key social problems in their development stages such as economic disparities, educational gaps and (youth) unemployment. All these facts hinder the countries´ development. To combat these challenges entrepreneurship is rising in importance. Therefore, the development of a robust ecosystem for entrepreneurship on HEI campuses and beyond academic borders to foster university business cooperation is key for sustainable growth. Despite this wave of innovation, there is a lack in disruptive and professionally developed ideas that create sustainable, yet profitable businesses to benefit the whole population.
HEIs need to update their physical infrastructure and support further teaching capacities to be able to react to current educational trends and to develop future change makers. In order to fill this gap, ENCORE aims to create awareness of the concept of entrepreneurship education and development to promote innovation in HEIs in Bhutan, Nepal and Laos. Although the main target group of ENCORE consists of students and graduates, researchers and non-academic staff of the university as well as entrepreneurs and businesses are addressed.
ENCORE Project Aims:
- to promote entrepreneurship education, the creation of an entrepreneurial mind set and disruptive business development at HEIs in Bhutan, Nepal and Laos to benefit from a sustainable and professional business development on a national, regional and local level;
- to enhance the university-business cooperation in the field of entrepreneurship to foster the concept and idea of business development, increase teaching quality and in the long-run to increase the employability of graduates;
- to foster innovation in the field of entrepreneurship by including established entrepreneurs in student-business learning activities within an institutionalized physical environment;
- to internationalize higher education institutions and countries having limited access to international cooperation in research and capacity building.
ENCORE Specific Objectives:
To benefit from a sustainable and professional business development on a national, regional, and local level, ENCORE integrates the following objectives:
- to support innovative ideas and to foster entrepreneurship practices while the university-business collaboration is strengthened by including companies and entrepreneurs through participatory schemes;
- to technically develop entrepreneurship knowledge centers (EKCs) in each of the six HEIs;
- to establish and operate six EKCs on entrepreneurship conceptualization and education with different foci;
- to strengthen teaching quality at HEIs in Bhutan, Nepal and Laos through innovative teaching and learning methodologies;
- to integrate advanced learning tools with which the students’ ability to identify and create disruptive business ideas is improved and and employability of graduates developed;
- to provide access to international cooperation in research and capacity building and thus, leading to internationalization of the six HEIs.
Project Partners
- University of Alicante in Spain
- Haaga-Helia Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy in Finland
- Royal University of Bhutan (Gedu College of Business Studies) in Bhutan
- Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan
- Tribhuvan University (Institute of Crisis Management Studies) in Nepal
- Global College International in Nepal
- Souphanouvong University in Laos
- National University of Laos in Laos
