Business start-up and social entrepreneurship: intensive course at STARS EU partner university on Tenerife

About 30 students and lecturers from five STARS EU partner universities took part in a one-week intensive course on founding socially oriented entrepreneurship at the University of La Laguna (ULL) in Tenerife in mid-November 2024. The overall coordination of this Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) was the responsibility of Prof. Dr Stephan Form and Prof. Dr Martin Holi from Faculty 1 - Economics at Hochschule Bremen (HSB). The event, which is based on a combination of online and face-to-face events, took place for the second time.

‘The students worked together in international teams during the week. They learnt about both theoretical concepts and a practice-oriented business simulation,’ explains Prof Dr Stephan Form. In addition to the theoretical basics of innovation and business start-ups, the programme included a week of intensive business simulations in which the students made decisions in cross-university teams based on simulated business challenges. ‘A simulation enables the student teams to develop their start-up idea into a business model and a business plan and to present these as part of a pitch,’ adds Prof Dr Martin Holi. As the course progresses, the students practise how to attract investors and make decisions as the management of the newly founded company.

Social enterprises in the region were also visited

‘We paid particular attention to the social nature of the programme,’ explains Javier Mendoza, local coordinator of the course at the ULL in Tenerife. In addition to the theoretical and practical aspects, the participants also visited social enterprises in the region in order to develop a deeper understanding of the social sector. Lunch and coffee breaks were also prepared by integration companies.

The BIP was developed in collaboration with professors and lecturers from HSB, ULL, University West (Sweden), Polytechnic University of Bragança (Portugal), Silesian University of Opava (Czech Republic), Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) and the University of Dürres Aleksandër Moisiu (Albania).

About STARS EU and the BIPs

Together with its eight partner universities in the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland and Albania, the HSB is developing new teaching and learning formats, university development and research projects in STARS EU, in which the pressing issues of our time are addressed on a transnational basis. The focus is on topics such as the energy transition, the circular economy, start-ups and innovation or health. Among other projects, STARS EU is working on creating joint degrees for students at the nine partner universities. The BIPs are the first phase of this educational programme. The aim is also to create joint bachelor's and postgraduate degrees as well as other courses based on micro-diplomas.

Learn more about STARS EU