Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Faculty of Economics in Osijek, together with international partners (National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education, United Kingdom, Turku School of Economics, Finland, and Aarhus Entrepreneurship Centre, Denmark) organized six-day international summer academy from August 26-31, 2012. Summer academy is part of the European Entrepreneurship Educators Programme (3EP) project, co-financed with funds from the European Union Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) in the 2010-2012 period. The project aims to increase the number of participants in entrepreneurship education at universities and improve the image of entrepreneurship in society, the attractiveness of entrepreneurship as a career, as well as to encourage creativity and innovation in education and training. Summer academy in Osijek is the third summer academy for university teachers, after Finland and Denmark, intended for training teachers in higher education institutions who teach entrepreneurship courses or want to incorporate into their courses content on which entrepreneurial competencies depend. 49 teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Croatia, Ireland, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and United Kingdom participated in Osijek summer academy. Same as participants of previous summer academies, participants in Osijek had the opportunity to share their experiences, explore new approaches and pedagogical methods and become a part of a large network of European educators, the so-called 3EP fellows.
Programme of the summer academy is designed to encourage teachers to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviours, characteristics and skills in their students through application of various teaching methods, such as use of Lego bricks, video clips, drama, one-minute presentations and roleplaying in their educational programmes. During a week of workshops and lectures, participants had the opportunity to get to know top trainers, such as Paul Hannon, director of the National Council for Entrepreneurship Education from United Kingdom, had the opportunity to implement modern pedagogical materials and methods, meet and collaborate with entrepreneurs and students, and solve some of the problems they are faced with in their educational programmes.
Summer academy in Osijek has enabled participants to understand the process of entrepreneurial education, use various pedagogical methods in their curricula and prepare their universities and students for the complexities in the environment and the needs of the labour market.
Of course, not all the time was dedicated to hard work. Through AMAZING RACE: Treasure hunt in Osijek, the participants were able to learn fun facts about the host city by visiting historical locations and solving fun and interesting tasks.
