Entrepreneurship Education – Pathway for Innovation, Inclusion & Quality
Beneficiaries: LEPL – Samtskhe-Javakheti State University and LLC – Caucasus University
Project Name: Entrepreneurship Education – Pathway for Innovation, Inclusion & Quality
Implementation Dates: 09/2023 – 02/2025
Total Project Cost: 589,323 GEL
Grant Amount: 528,523 GEL
Description
The main goal of the project is to develop the base of human and material resources, innovative and entrepreneurship capabilities of Samtskhe-Javakheti State University (SJSU) and Caucasus University (CU) from the participating higher education institutions of Georgia. This goal will be achieved by increasing the knowledge-experience and resources of HEIs, updating their strategic goals and plans, and intensively developing university stakeholder networks that will connect university intelligence with industry resources. Also, the project aims to improve the existing network between businesses and universities and introduce multifaceted approaches.
Activities
At the initial stage of the project, together with the partner George Washington University, management, dissemination and quality control plans were developed, as well as 8 curricula were updated (5 – at CU, 3 – at SJSU). The representatives of GWU’s “Innovation and Entrepreneurship office” conducted trainings for academic and guest staff of the faculty at SJSU. After the aforementioned trainings, the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center/Laboratory” was established, through which, by sharing the experiences of partner universities and training, it will be possible to connect the entrepreneurial and innovative resources of students and academic staff to market demands and needs. The trainings of the staff and students of the “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center/Laboratory” will continue until the end of the project. At the end of the project, it is planned to pilot an acceleration program through a joint CU/SJSU bootcamp. This event serves to raise awareness and spark interest among students. The activity is also a good way to publicly demonstrate the developed tools and methods in practice.
Sustainability
The results of the project are fully sustainable, as the very structure of the project incorporates the development of regular and integrated teaching-learning practices and units that will be fully supported by the university and funded as part of its day-to-day operations. The project activities aim to develop stronger cooperation in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation and to develop a framework for increasing the quality of education both at the individual and group level. In addition, the development of university strategies provides long-term sustainability to further advance entrepreneurship and innovation at the level of the university’s long-term and short-term goals. It is a collaboration that SJSU and CU have built to support public-private partnerships, as well as to promote national and international growth, because responsibility falls on both participants, without exception.