CROSS-CONTINENTAL COLLABORATIONS INFUSE CURRICULA DEVELOPMENT ACROSS AFRICA SCHOOL : Aalto University School of Business COUNTRY : Finland
For the past five years or so, Aalto University School of Business assistant professor Patrick Shulist has been helping to develop entrepreneurship education in Africa in conjunction with local partners. “Entrepreneurship exposure during university studies equips students with the critical thinking, innovation and business skills needed to address environmental challenges, promote sustainable development and make the most of their technical skills,” reasoned Shulist. His efforts include the multi-partner projects PBL BioAfrica and Forest21. The former seeks to facilitate the incorporation of problem‑based learning (PBL) methods into bio-entrepreneurship education across agricultural curricula, with climate consciousness and sustainability as guiding principles. It has seen Aalto collaborate with five universities in Kenya and Zambia, as well as with Finland’s Häme University of Applied Sciences. Forest21, meanwhile, has its sights set firmly on integrating climate-smart entrepreneurship into South Africa’s forestry sector. This Erasmus+-funded project has involved universities in Finland, South Africa and Norway.
At Aalto, participation in both projects is run through Aalto Global Impact (AGI), a university arm dedicated to social impact through the promotion of its research and programmes. The AGI covers the projects’ operational aspects, such as the delivery of appropriate training for instructors and travel arrangements for student teams, allowing Shulist to focus on working on curricula with programme heads and lecturers at partner universities. “A big part of curriculum development is working with forestry and agriculture faculty to understand what entrepreneurship is, why it is important, how to teach it and most importantly, how it can easily fit within one’s courses and curricula,” Shulist explained. He then added: “To make sure all our work will persist after the projects end, I also created and filmed a seven-module, 27-part, online video series overview for faculty at partner universities to use in the future.” Shulist has also developed a video lecture series for another Aalto initiative in Africa. Drawing on partnerships in Zambia, Nigeria and Ethiopia, the 5G for Entrepreneurs project aims to teach students the basics of entrepreneurship from which they can develop their own ideas and prototype products. TBD
10 | Ambition | JUNE 2024
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