Sustainable Entrepreneurial Skills (Sustainable ESKI).
ESKI
Eski stands for entrepreneurial skills and is a course unit (OPO) that can be included as an elective within 27 courses offered at Odisee Co-Hogeschool.
Within the OPO, students work together on a business plan in an interdisciplinary manner. Groups of 2 to 4 students from different majors work together on the various components of a business plan.
There are also individual assignments on entrepreneurship (self-test on entrepreneurship, spotting opportunities, pitching, interview with an entrepreneur, individual reflection on sustainable entrepreneurship).
Despite the fact that there is already a focus on sustainability and circular economy within the existing Eski, we find that students often see this approach as incidental and linger on the surface. From a recent undergraduate thesis (Jelle Meurrens, September 2022) on circularity in student enterprises, data research shows that Odisee students have remarkably little knowledge about circularity. The inclusion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the ESKI subject is of great importance for the education of future entrepreneurs and professionals. Teaching the SDGs encourages students to think about their social responsibility and how they can have a positive impact on the world.
By incorporating these goals into the curriculum, students can learn how to build profitable businesses that are sustainable and ethical at the same time. We are expanding the course to 22 contact hours. Of these, 13 would be reworked from the existing course and 3 would be added.
