Aggregated outcomes of the SMEEE project The Consortium for Small and Medium Size Enterprises and Entrepreneurship Education (SMEEE) consists of three European partners (Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg (UB), Universidad de Alicante (UA) and Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL)) and three partners from the United States (Appalachian State University (ASU), Clemson University (CU), and the University of North Florida (UNF)). The University of Bamberg and Clemson University are the EU and US lead institutions, respectively. The main objectives were to move students between transatlantic partners to improve the pre departure orientation given to our students, and to develop better programs to integrate visiting students into the academic and social environments of the host schools. The consortium was funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission as an Atlantis Project.
Student and faculty mobility Certainly, student mobility was the most positive aspect of the project. The total number of students with SMEEE scholarships is 47. In addition to that, US partners already sent 84 students. Hence, the SMEEE consortium provided mobility grants for 131 student exchanges between Europe and the US. In order to continuously monitor the quality of the work/outcomes the following surveys were realised mainly by the lead organisations on both sides of the Atlantic: 2 / 6 Pre exchange survey before departure in 2009 Post exchange survey about students integration and their exchange experience abroad in 2009 Survey on learning gains of small and medium size enterprises and entrepreneurship, foreign language skills and intercultural competency in 2010 In the 2011 Evaluation Report questions were mainly related to the content of the SMEEE project, the cultural awareness, as well as the organizations. Students were asked to fulfil standardized questionnaires before and after their exchanges. The reason for asking twice was, on the one hand, to differentiate between the quality of preparation offered to students and the support given during the stay. On the other hand, the personal as well as the academic benefits students gained from their exchanges were measurable by arranging the surveys like that. Furthermore the consortium was able to measure the level to which expectations, students had before their exchange, were fulfilled. In order to allow for a constant improvement of quality during the lifetime of the project the results were centrally analysed and an abstract was provided to all partners already at an early stage of the project. Already those early results indicated that students satisfaction with the work of the consortium was very high from the beginning, and that students generally were able to benefit from SMEEE in many ways. For example, 81% of the student respondents indicated that they felt better prepared for graduate/professional school studies or a full time career after their SMEEE exchange experience. As result of participating in the SMEEE program, do you feel better prepared for graduate or professional school studies or a full time career? 1 Yes 81% 2 No 19% Total 100% Furthermore, they indicated gains in foreign language skills and most students felt that they could work for a company, go to school or live permanently in a country where the foreign language is spoken. Finally, students were able to articulate gains in
intercultural awareness through their descriptions of cultural differences in their home and host countries and advice they would give students going on exchange to their host country. Curriculum Besides providing mobility grants for the intercultural exchange one central aim of SMEEE was to strengthen the awareness for entrepreneurship among the participating students. To reach this goal the consortium developed a substantial transatlantic curriculum with entrepreneurship courses. Students participating in the project had to take these courses to a certain extent of their studies during their stay at the respective partner institution. As a result the awareness of students for entrepreneurial questions was sustainably improved. 53% of the students even thought about or are already planning to create their own business after participating in the program. 3 / 6 Did this study abroad experience stimulate your interest in starting your own business? 1 yes, I plan to start my own business 29% 2 yes, I am considering starting my own business 24% 3 I am not sure about starting my own business 43% 4 no, I do not plan to start my own business 5% Total 100% In order to further strengthen the international character of the program the consortium organized international entrepreneurship seminars. In the course of these seminars students from both sides of the Atlantic met to work together on entrepreneurial questions like strategic business planning with focus on the cultural distinctions of their home countries. In the seminar international entrepreneurship, for example, student teams from the Appalachian State University and the Université Catholique de Louvain were asked to work out concrete business plan projects. 15 20 ASU students worked with 15 20 students from UCL. ASU students visited Belgium for one week in February 2009. Belgian students visited Boone in early April 2009. In between, the groups composed of ASU and UCL students worked on their business plan projects. A significant portion of the course lectures and activities took place during the two weeks that UCL and ASU students were together in the US and in Belgium. ASU students had to keep a very flexible schedule during the UCL visit to Boone as they met and worked with UCL students outside normal class times during the week of their stay. To minimize
expenses for the trip, ASU students hosted UCL students in their homes and UCL students hosted ASU students in Louvain la Neuve. At a minimum, ASU students provided guests with a comfortable sleeping area and a light breakfast. ASU students also were responsible for getting them to and from ASU each day. Most of the grades for this course were based on the group business plan project. The business idea could be any original new independent venture or a new corporate venture (intrapreneurship). Each business took advantage of team members knowledge of both the US and Belgium and had a global dimension, i.e., used resources, customers and/or employees in at least the two countries. The business could be located in either country or both. Students were encouraged to develop born global businesses, i.e., businesses that from the beginning were international in nature. Another significant portion of the grade was based on participation and conduct. Attendance was required at all lectures and activities. Students were expected to be on time, alert and attentive for all scheduled activities. While abroad, students were expected to represent their home institution well at all times whether it was with group events or during free time. Any conduct issues related to excessive drinking or other unsafe behaviours were dealt with in the strictest fashion. Each ASU student was required to keep a detailed journal as part of this course. The journals included observations of the following: cultural differences between the US and Belgium (e.g. food, dress, social interactions, behaviour, cultural activities, etc.), business differences (e.g. management, marketing, finance, government regulation), the unique aspects and challenges of working in an international team and the structure of this new course. Journal entries were made daily during the two weeks spent with UCL students in Boone and Belgium and weekly for the rest of the semester. The final course was graded on a normal A F scale based on your performance on the following areas: 4 / 6 Project plan 10% Group written business plan 30% Group presentation 20% Individual participation and conduct 20% Journal summary 20% Another international seminar was organised at the University of Bamberg. The organisational details were very similar to the one described above whereas the focus with respect to contend was on international financial control as an important part of international entrepreneurial ventures. After a voluntary social event organised by the UB students studied together at UB according to the following time table:
Date Time (s.t.!) Room Course May 5 18 00 h 20 00 h Kä 0.108 Introduction Jun 8 10 00 h 14 00 h Kä 1.106 Lecture Jun 8 14 00 h 20 00 h Jun 9 10 00 h 14 00 h Kä 1.106 Lecture Jun 9 Jun 10 Jun 10 14 00 h 20 00 h 08 00 h 14 00 h 14 00 h 18 00 h Company Visit (tba) 5 / 6 Jun 11 10 00 h 14 00 h Kä 1.106 Practice lecture Jun 11 14 00 h 20 00 h Jun 12 10 00 h 18 00 h Kä 1.108 Presentations of group projects and get together Jul 16 20 00 h Submission of written seminar paper During the lecture week (June 8th June 11th) students worked in mixed groups (each group of 4 individuals included students from both universities) to set up a short international business idea in an own business plan. For group work 2 rooms were reserved all lecture week long. At the final meeting on Saturday, June 12 th, all group results were presented. Each group presentation took 20 minutes. After each presentation the results were discussed by all course participants. In addition, students of the University of Bamberg turned in a seminar paper with their results (possibly with extended results). Therefore each group got some weeks to improve and to enhance the presented results to set up a business plan within a written group seminar paper. This paper demonstrated the developed business plans of the (international) businesses. This course was granted 6 ECTS credits. The grade was based on the group presentation (40%) and the final written group seminar paper (60%). The joint course was evaluated very positively by students. The overall grade was 1.65 (on a scale from 1.0 (best) to 5.0 (worst)). Due to this success Appalachian State University and the University of Bamberg plan to continue the seminar. Beside student exchanges, the consortium has been very active in teaching related activities. During the entire project a total number of 9 faculty exchanges took place. All of the partners got involved in these exchanges. The faculties, on the one hand, taught classes at the partner institutions focussing on SMEEE related courses. On the other hand, they were asked to implement the different points of view caused by cultural differences between the respective home and host countries. Furthermore, faculty from the partner institutions have collaborated on developing short term exchanges were students: 1) to work together on business plans and entrepreneurship projects, 2) to participate in relevant field trips in both countries, 3) to write academic papers together, and 4) to host one another at their home institutions. The short term exchange provides a quality exchange experience focused on entrepreneurship for students that do not have the curriculum time or financial means for an exchange.
Cooperation between Institutions During the project, the consortium also had several meetings to discuss strategic issues as well as the on going management of the project. All partners participated in meetings in: Brussels Boone Boston Berlin Clemson Moreover, European partners held several meetings on Skype to discuss the on going management of the project. Aim of the meetings was to continuously improve the general study conditions for the exchange students at all institutions. Due to the previous project administration was already used to working with each other from the beginning. Nevertheless, SMEEE offered the possibility to further enhance the workflow. Surveys indicate that this aim was reached quite well. In addition, project coordinators from Clemson and the University of Bamberg met in fall 2012 to discuss the future cooperation between institutions. Both project coordinators regret that due to lack of funding no new consortium can be created. Nevertheless, both partners agree that cooperation should continue in the future. It is intended that both universities will identify groups of students that will participate in a joint course that takes place in Bamberg and Clemson. Moreover, Clemson and Bamberg discussed the possibility of getting students involved earlier into international activities and exchanges. Clemson proposed to offer short term trips to European partner institutions to students who are at an early freshman stage. For instance these students could visit partners in Belgium, Germany and Spain on an organized 1 month long trip and learn about the business environment in European countries. This could stimulate the interest in exchanges through SMEEE during their studies. In exchange, these visits could be considered to increase the number of European students that can be admitted to US institutions. Bamberg confirmed again that the institution would be very open for such an initiative. The Implementation of these ideas will be discussed in a meeting to be held at Alicante in 2013. 6 / 6