BELGIUM - Leuven

Zefir Huybrechts

GO! Atheneum De Ring

Tiensevest 62

3000 Leuven

http://www.ka2ring.be

info@ka2ring.be

GO! Atheneum De Ring Leuven is a secondary public school in Leuven, a town 25 km east of Brussels. Leuven is a thriving city known for its university and high-tech businesses. These kinds of enterprises require their employees to be highly educated with a lot of creative and astute entrepreneurial talent.

Our school has about 950 pupils and about 120 teachers. We only offer general or theory based education. We prepare our pupils for higher education on a master or bachelor level. Compared to private schools, we educate pupils with different ethnic backgrounds.

These pupils are underprivileged and thus they don't always have the same opportunities. So to properly support them for the labour market extra tools are needed.

Since 2010 we are running minicompanies at our school and become a member of Vlajo (national agency on entrepreneurial education, part of JA YE Europe).

We participate in many competitions and our mini-companies are awarded as best selling mini-company. Every school year our mini-companies participate in several trade fairs. Each school year we invite entrepreneurs to talk about their experiences. In collaboration with the youth department of our city, our pupils can participate in a start-up contest.

In 2016 we were awarded as ambassador of being an entrepreneurial school by Vlajo. Vlajo recognise us as an example of entrepreneurship education. As ambassador we take place in a focus group on the topic of networking and learning activities.

We have introduced an entrepreneurial skills pass (ESP) - an international qualification that certifies students (15-19 years old), who have had a real entrepreneurship experience, have gained the necessary knowledge, skills and competences to start a business or to be successfully employed. ESP includes a full-year in-school mini-company experience; a self-assessment of entrepreneurial competences; an examination of business, economic and financial knowledge and the possibility to access further opportunities offered by small and large businesses, top higher institutions and international organisations across Europe.

As a teacher and a coach, I have enough relevant experience of motivating and guiding all pupils involved in this strategic partnership.

We also have an excellent relationship with our national agency (Vlajo). Vlajo will act as an associate partner and help us with not only pracitcal matters, but also with the dissemination and use of projects' results. Vlercik Business school will give us some workshops in the domain of entrepreneurship. It specialises in customised programmes on entrepreneurship, management advice on innovation & entrepreneurship and networking amongst entrepreneurs.

The key research areas where our specialists work in, are: entrepreneurship education in all aspects, entrepreneurial finance with a special focus on private equity, entrepreneurial activity in regions and countries, entrepreneurship policy in Belgium.