Final Report of the Expert Group - European Commission - Europa

In most cases student company programmes are driven and organised by external actors(e.g. NGOs) rather than by the education system itself, although they may receive significantsupport from the public sector. For the above reason, and because sometimes they take placeoutside the school curriculum, these programmes generally suffer from insufficient financialresources.Activities are based on strong involvement of the private sector, taking the form of fundingor contributions in kind.In most countries student company programmes receive a degree of support from publicauthorities (financial or other). Actually, in some countries financial resources for theorganisation of these programmes come mainly from the public sector. However, the level ofpublic support is often perceived as not sufficient for ensuring a continued and strongpresence of student company methodologies in the education systems. Also, support is inmany cases not systematic, but rather project-based, thus not encouraging long-term planning.Other forms of support are: an official recognition or endorsement from the educationalauthorities; the inclusion as a recommended option in framework curricula established atnational (or regional) level; regular cooperation with promoters (such as NGOs); activepromotion to teachers and schools.In a few countries, public authorities have established a structured cooperation with NGOsresponsible for the organisation of student company programmes. Also, active promotion bypublic authorities to teachers and schools can play a very important role in the disseminationof these programmes. In some cases, the Department of Education sends invitation letters andinformation material to the heads of schools aiming to encourage their participation.However, activities of promotion are in most countries only occasional, or not enoughintensive and systematic.In some countries, the organisation of student company programmes faces major practicaldifficulties because of an unclear legal and administrative framework (for instance, asregards aspects such as the taxation of mini-companies or the possibility for students ofdealing with real companies). In other cases, a specific regulatory framework for studentcompanies has been established, or agreements between promoting organisations andfinancial authorities are in place.While not disregarding the effectiveness of other pedagogical tools, it can be affirmed thatthese programmes are an important option within any strategy for stimulatingentrepreneurial attitudes and skills, as they are based on learning through practice.Also, these programmes can represent an important instrument within regional developmentpolicies. In fact, especially in less developed or more isolated regions, activities may havepositive effects in increasing the number of school leavers to remain in the area by buildingdirect links with the local community.At the moment, the main obstacles to an increased application are: insufficient recognition,absence of a visible role within curricula, lack of motivation of teachers and of specifictraining for them, not enough promotion from the public authorities to schools, not enoughfinancial resources to ensure long-term planning and sustainability.The dissemination and take-up of student company activities should be increased, so as toallow all potentially interested students to have access to these programmes.9