Page 86 - guidance-supporting-europe-s-aspiring-entrepreneurs-policy-and-practice-to-harness-future-potential

Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

currency is exchanged. ‘Real’ company programmes are less commonly used in
IVET than virtual and practice companies.
Examples of different mini-company approaches can be found in Example
10. They show how practice and virtual company programmes are being
implemented by vocational schools in practice.

Example 10. Practical training firms, Lithuania

The first practical training firm (PTF) was established in Lithuania in 1993 under a joint project of
three Danish business colleges and the Lithuanian Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Consequently, the Lithuanian PTF network is more than 10 years old. Just under 50 practical training
firms are currently operating in Lithuania (20 of them are established within IVET institutions). They
are used as a practical teaching method in 20 out of 78 IVET establishments.
Practical training firms are companies that imitate activities of genuine companies and are
involved in mutual trade with Lithuanian and foreign firms. The aim of a PTF is the development of
knowledge and skills in the business field. This includes practical application of theoretical knowledge
on marketing, staff management, finances, and bookkeeping, sales, working with suppliers, foreign
language and ITC. Students act as business executives and attempt to solve issues that arise in the
process and implement their plans and ideas.
The activities of practical training firms are very similar to the activities of genuine businesses.
They have to comply with national laws. The only difference is that there are no real products (since
they exist only on paper) and money is not real (it exists only in the records of a virtual bank, etc.).

Example 11. Virtual business game, the Netherlands
In 2004, Groningen University together with ID Media developed an educational internet game for
students in vocational schools. The goal of the Starting entrepreneur game (KvK Startersspel) is to
inform students in a playful manner about the steps needed to start a business as well as to direct
them to the proper organisations that have a role in business creation, such as the chamber of
commerce. The game was piloted in 2005 by five schools and can now be used by all schools in the
country. Currently around 80 schools are registered and last year 5 000 people visited the site where
they can play the demo-version of the game.
Source: McCoshan et al., 2010.

Activities linked to mini-company programmes generally take place once or
twice a week, for one to two hours per lesson. Some programmes last for four to
five months (for example, in Estonia and Lithuania) while others run for only a
few weeks (for example, in Ireland, Hungary and the UK) (European
Commission, 2005b). These shorter versions of the programme are often run as
intensive options to reach as many students as possible as several programmes
can be run through the academic year.
Mini-company programmes are generally offered through external providers,
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often non-governmental organisations and charities ( ). In Europe, the main
provider of these programmes is JA-YE Europe, which is active in 27 out of 30

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( ) For further information, please see Section 2.5.1.

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