How to Achieve Sustainability of Creative Enterprise Education in Georgia
The Online Roadmap Meetings held as part of the British Council's ‘Creative Spark: Higher Education Enterprise Program’ on 16,17 and 18 June were important because we, the British Council, and members of the Georgia-UK partnerships, wanted to once again demonstrate our support for the development of enterprise education ecosystem in Georgia, - says Maya Darchia, Arts Manager at British Council, Georgia.
Key outcomes of last week’s meeting were the identification of needs, challenges and recommendations for institutional/country level change to support enterprise education and entrepreneurship development, and the building of a country community/network with all partners, key stakeholders and project champions.
A presentation of the Georgia Entrepreneurial Education Alliance (GEEA) Declaration was made during the meeting, with the participation of Levan Kharatishvili, Deputy Minister of Education Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia; Irma Ratiani, Director Creative Georgia; organizations involved in education reform, economic development and capacity building; Creative Spark UK and Georgia partnerships representatives; enterprise representatives; leading opinion makers in the area; and Creative Spark Y1 and Y2 applicants
Creative Spark: Higher Education Enterprise Programme
Creative Spark is a five-year initiative to support international university and institutional partnerships to develop enterprise skills and creative economy across seven countries in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan), South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia) and Ukraine through UK support.
In order to support higher education reform and respond to unemployment rates in these seven countries, Georgia is to use the UK’s experience to help develop enterprise education, supporting over 10,000 students and young entrepreneurs in the first year of the program.
The program has three key elements:
1. Development of partnerships between universities and creative institutions in the UK and those in program countries in order to support enterprise education and establish enterprise centers;
2. Delivering enterprise skills training packages to students and creative entrepreneurs, ranging from pitching ideas and starting a business, to protecting intellectual property and securing credit lines.
3. Delivering an English learning program with a range of digital learning content including learning platforms, online courses and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) focused on English for entrepreneurship.
“At the meeting, the partnership members officially announced the establishment of the Georgia Enterprise Education Alliance (GEEA), whose mission it is to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem across the whole of Georgia that is recognized internationally as best practice, and supports young people, students and citizens to develop entrepreneurial skills to enhance their careers in employment and/or as entrepreneurs,” Darchia notes. “The GEEA will bring together public and private sectors, education, industry, policymakers and Government to share best practice, inspire and encourage collaborative working and influence and shape policy."