Startup Capability Academy project is a professional training program that aims to design and build a supporting environment for entrepreneurship, startup capabilities and self-employment. It applies the main principles of entrepreneurship and innovation to empower the startup ecosystem in PC universities. TRANSFER aims to bridge the gaps in technology innovation and startup development ecosystem in Palestine and Tunisia in line with national strategies. The overall objective of this project is to establish a curriculum focused on startup and entrepreneurial capabilities at PS and TU universities. The curriculum will be integrated as a professional training program within the universities’ current technology educational programs and business incubators, where the lectures will take place. The project also aims to develop training manuals to be integrated into startup incubation programs at PC universities.
TRANSFER addresses the Curricular Reform National Priority for PS and TU by establishing a new curriculum for startup academy and disseminating the results. In addition to offering teacher training programs, the program is industry-oriented, thereby enhancing the employability of graduates.
The startup academy program is designed to advance the knowledge of undergraduate technology students and provide them with a detailed understanding of innovation and startup development. The program allows students to enhance expertise and skills that are likely to be required in developing more innovative and promising startups, which is essential and significant for startups in their early development stage.
The project will develop ten courses covering the core modules of startup capability academy. They are divided into two parts: General modules that include Design Thinking for Technology Innovation, Business Development for young Entrepreneurs, Startup Marketing, Project and Innovation Management and Startup funding; and specialized modules that include Cloud Computing for Young Entrepreneurs, Innovation by IoT, Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation, Innovation in 3D Printing Technology and Innovation in Big Data.
Each partner university will be responsible for successfully integrating the courses into their business incubator program. The general framework of the study program consists of two main categories: general courses, which define the core body of knowledge for business and innovation development, and specialized courses, which aim to build on the core courses and provide more depth in certain areas of technology trends. The courses will be integrated either as professional training program or as elective courses that emphasize entrepreneurship and self-employment.
The advantage of this framework is that it enables all students who are interested in developing their self-employment capabilities to receive professional training and broaden their knowledge in entrepreneurship and innovation. It also provides the opportunity for students who are not interested in entrepreneurship to receive professional certificate in technology skills, ensuring the sustainability of the program and the availability of the courses.
At Al-Quds and Birzeit University, there is a deliberate effort to encourage students to develop their self-employment skills by incorporating entrepreneurial training alongside traditional teaching methods. To achieve this, the courses will be offered as electives in the universities’ current program. To accommodate local conditions, the program will be offered as a technical certificate in business and technology for working engineers
The Project Objectives:
1- To implement an innovative entrepreneurship and self-employment capabilities curriculum as an integrated professional training program at the universities’ business incubators.
2- To develop, validate and implement ten courses and three case studies using student-centered, adaptive, e-learning, and contemporary education methodologies.
3- To develop capacities and promote the adoption of the bologna processes (aligned to QA procedures and informal education approaches).
4- To promote technology entrepreneurship education by developing a course in Technology Innovation Entrepreneurship
5- To enhance the competencies and skills of staff in partner universities through (i) arranging training visits to EU partners to develop startup implementation skills in curriculum development and innovative learning, and (ii) providing opportunities for innovation collaboration with EU staff through joint supervision of students' projects or research innovation projects.
6- To create opportunities for collaboration between academia and industry in the areas of technology innovation and HCIs.
