Despite the positive impact that social enterprises have on the economy and society in general, currently the majority of entrepreneurship courses are offered in business and economic studies, so in fact most students have no possibility of taking part in entrepreneurial courses and programs. Eurostat and GEM data show that two-thirds of young people and women in EU believe they do not have the knowledge or skills to start a business, which is one of the most significant barriers to business creation.

Investing in entrepreneurship education is one of the highest return investments Europe can make, the Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2020 stresses. This requires the transversal competences, required in social entrepreneurship to become mainstream – not only for students in business studies, but also for those in humanities, arts, sciences and technologies.

To address these challenges, the Open Mind project develop and pilot an innovative gamified open online course in social entrepreneurship for women and students from non-business studies.

P1. VUZF University , Bulgaria
Leader in providing quality education in the areas of business and entrepreneurship in Bulgaria specialized in entrepreneurship and innovation, finance, insurance and social insurance, management and marketing, with large experience in developing and delivering programs for online education.

P2. Business Foundation for Education (BFE), Bulgaria
Recognized leader in lifelong learning and career guidance in Bulgaria with more than 20 national initiatives and EU projects that have produced huge impact on employability, personal development and career fulfilment.

P3. D.A.Tsenov Academy of Economics (TAE), Bulgaria
Recognized education provider, experienced in development and testing of innovative education and training methodologies for entrepreneurship skills, in designing of learning solutions, based on distance learning platforms, in validation of skills and learning outcomes.

P4. 11235 Ltd, Bulgaria
Consulting company operating in the UK and Bulgaria, highly specialized in developing solutions for customer data analysis. Its web-based gamification platform EnterPlay combines interaction design, psychology, and data analysis to enable personalized challenges, social competition, group collaboration, and meaningful rewards to truly motivate and engage customers.

P5. Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (IED), Greece
IED has over 10 years of experience in promoting social entrepreneurship and providing start up assistance, mentorship and coaching, especially to young people and women.

P6. The University of Lodz (ULO)
One of the leading public higher education institutions in Poland. The University strives to maintain the highest quality of education and research by searching for the possibilities of implementation of research ideas and scientific concepts, and the enhancement of the student-targeted academic offer within the cooperation with scientific organizations and companies.

P7. University Titu Maiorescu (UTM), Romania
A major private university in Romania, providing education in Psychology, Economical Sciences, Law, IT, Social Sciences, Medicine, Dental Medicine and Pharmacy. The university develops the entrepreneurship skills of its students through its Career Counseling Center, 2 resource centers for entrepreneurship development, as well as through various projects on this topic.

P8. University of Sheffield (USFD), United Kingdom
Sheffield University Management School is a leading business school with a world-class reputation for high quality teaching, ground-breaking research and cutting-edge thinking.

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