Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union

Motivation

Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University (NMSTU) is fully engaged in cooperation with many European higher education institutions. For example, the University concluded partnership agreements with the University of Padua (Italy), the University of Bath (The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Jean Monnet University Institute of Technology (Saint-Etienne, France), the Technical University “Bergakademie Freiberg” (Germany), and others. However, due to the profile of the University, joint studies are mainly focused on engineering. We believe that it is high time for us to develop joint research investigations with the EU in the field of Economics and other social sciences. That is why we made a decision to participate in the Jean Monnet project.

A youth entrepreneurship issue is quite urgent for us. This is because our University is situated in Magnitogorsk where the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant) is the main large employer, in other words, Magnitogorsk is a single-industry town. Single-industry municipal units are in the majority in Chelyabinsk region and the Urals district. The youth unemployment issue is quite urgent in single-industry municipal units. At the same time, the youth social world is becoming more open and multinational. One of the solutions to this problem is to engage young people to manage a business. Even today, the NMSTU pushes for implementation of the youth business projects: material and technical resources have been provided, a business incubator has been established, a wide data base has been made available, business project contests are held annually, students and graduates take part in all-Russian business fests. Implementation of European best practices of youth entrepreneurship development will make it possible for us to give a boost to our efforts.

During implementation of the project, lead instructors will collect and analyse information about the level of entrepreneurship development in EU countries and about EU governmental and non-governmental programs of youth entrepreneurship assistance. Knowledge gained will be disseminated not only among the course attendees but among persons concerned through public workshops, training conferences with participants from other regions, publications of research articles and learning aids.

A new course will let the attendees compare the level of business development and opportunities for entrepreneurs in EU countries and Russia and identify possible ways to improve this field. In future, by implementing European best practices, young entrepreneurs and all the participants of the project will be able to exercise their civic engagement through different social initiatives that facilitate improvement of business working environment in Magnitogorsk and Russia-wide.

Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University is one of the top-ranked higher education institutions of the Urals region and a unique university in southern Chelyabinsk region. It turns our University into one of the centers of cultural development. We try to engage population of neighboring districts - amounting to more than 1,000,000 people - into our projects. If the project is successfully implemented it will be possible to introduce European best practices of youth entrepreneurship development, first, into neighboring districts, and then, Russia-wide through cooperation with other higher education institutions.

Newly-qualified teachers of our University as well as young experienced entrepreneurs will compose participants of the project, which will help to reach the course attendees, to consider different practical problems and possible ways to solve them in Russia and EU countries. We plan to give interactive classes, such as business simulation, roundtable debates, etc

Specific objectives

According to the Bologna Declaration, one of the goals of higher education is the accomplishment of its social role. We feel our commitment to knowledge transfer to young people, including knowledge of how social problems are solved in Europe. We want our graduates to apply this knowledge in their future professional life.

Problems related to youth unemployment are urgent not only in Russia but abroad. However, young people always have a possibility to apply their university knowledge in their own businesses. That is why the development of youth entrepreneurship is a currently important area of focus for local and regional authorities as well as governments of many countries.

Even today, human capital assets turn out to be the most expensive innovative product in the world. Quality exerts a significant impact on their value. Not all the university graduates can find a job according to their professional specialization. The youth unemployment issue is urgent both for Russia and the European Union. However, young people always have a possibility to apply knowledge and skills obtained during their university years in their own businesses.

Many university students and graduates would like to run their own businesses in future but they cannot imagine what it is like to be an entrepreneur. To succeed in a business project, they should have knowledge enough to understand how enterprises, including small businesses, are run, what problems may arise and how they can be solved, what business risks are and how they can be reduced, and so on. That’s why knowledge they can gain when implementing our project is quite essential for their future professional life.

Utilization of European entrepreneurship development patterns will make it possible for young people to learn more, broaden their horizons and quickly adapt if they decide to go to live in a different country.

In future, by implementing European best practices, young entrepreneurs and all the participants of the project will be able to exercise their civic engagement through different social initiatives that facilitate improvement of business working environment in Magnitogorsk and Russia-wide.So, we are aiming at dissemination of information about European best practices in the field of entrepreneurship development among many young people of our region, academic staff dealing with economic and entrepreneurial issues, and local and regional policy-makers.

Aims and activities of the organization

Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University is one of the most credible and reputable multiple-discipline technical universities and scientific centres in Russia. Representing a widespread infrastructure, sophisticated material resources and high intellectual potential, our University became an internationally recognized research school; it has a wide range of cultural and scientific ties with both Russian and overseas universities.

The University was found in 1934. In 2011, the University won the award in the strategic development program contest and was listed among 100 leading universities in Russia.

The NMSTU offers higher education, secondary vocational and extended education programs to over 25,000 students. The faculty consists of about 1,000 higher education teachers including over 100 professors, over 700 PhDs and D.Sc. and about 250 secondary vocational education teachers.

The NMSTU is certified against the quality management system ISO 9001:2008 (No. 09.720.026 of October 19, 2009) according to the results of the external Russian and international audit. Students and teaching staff at the NMSTU are involved in a variety of research activities.

The NMSTU students become award-winners of many local, regional, and national scientific and creative contests and sports competitions every year. The NMSTU alumni are employed at all the large enterprises of the Urals Federal District, Russia, the CIS and far-abroad countries.

The Institute of Economics and Management is part of the NMSTU. The institute is one of the prestigious institutes of the University. The Institute offers programs on Economics, Management, State and Municipal Administration, HR Management. Over 1,000 students study at the Institute at present.

The learning perspective implies that specialists are trained to work under challenging conditions of Russian market economy, to analyse fast-moving social and economic situations and to make effective managerial and administrative decisions.

Students of the Institute win many diplomas and certificates at international and all-Russian conferences, contests, and academic competitions, which proves their high speciality qualification level.

The Institute graduates can do a Master’s degree majoring in Industrial Accounting, Risk Management and Insurance, Economics and Industrial Market Management, Production Management, HR Innovative Technologies.

The project is going to be implemented at the Department of Economics and Marketing. The Department is well experienced in training students to specialities of marketing specialist and entrepreneur. The department faculty carries out research in the field of Economics, Marketing, World Economy, Entrepreneurship, and European Economy. Quality of the faculty will make it possible to implement the project.

Expected impact of the project

The target group of the project is the NMSTU students majoring in Economics and Management, as well as students of Magnitogorsk colleges and young people willing to become entrepreneurs.

The project implies study of European best practices of small and medium businesses development. The study activities feature training, conferences, seminars and roundtable debates, business simulation training, hands-on training, progressive development of programs and business cases, entrepreneurship labs at the NMSTU. At present, a business-incubator is operating at the premises of the NMSTU. A contest of business projects is held annually at the NMSTU. These two factors actually promote further development of youth entrepreneurship, development of projects offering actual jobs, starting from the service industry and including other industries. Results of the study will be disseminated in Magnitogorsk as well as in all towns of Chelyabinsk region and other territories of the Russian Federation.

Study of European best practices of youth entrepreneurship development will make it possible to apply similar methods in Magnitogorsk and neighboring regions with further dissemination in other regions of the Russian Federation.

Participants of the course will gain advanced knowledge of running business in Europe. The course also considers governmental and non-governmental support programs for young entrepreneurs working in the European Union. The students will have an opportunity to evaluate efficiency of these programs and to further similar measures in Russia within the framework of public activities.

Dissemination and exploitation strategy

The project deliverables will be learning aids and developed didactic materials which will help to increase the number of course participants and to involve young teaching staff into instructing.

A training conference is going to be held within the framework of the project, which will enhance dissemination of the results and innovations among other researchers and teaching staff in Russia. To involve more specialists committed to the project, a collection of research papers, available to the public, is going to be published basing on proceedings of the conference.

An already-exciting school for upper-form pupils called “Project”, where children acquire primary business skills, will be also developed in the framework of the project.

Upon completion of the project, a school of young entrepreneurs will be run at the premises of the NMSTU. The school is designed to implement European best practices. Not only can students of our University study at his school but all young people who feel like it.

Away seminars held in different towns will contribute to dissemination of knowledge and experience gained. Youth entrepreneurship issues and practices of solving similar problems in the EU countries will be discussed at the seminars. Local policy-makers and managers will be asked to participate at these seminars to get certain measures, acknowledged in Europe, into actual practical use.

All the project materials will be uploaded to the NMSTU official web-site.

Quality control and Monitoring

The NMSTU is certified against the quality management system ISO 9001:2008 (No. 09.720.026 of October 19, 2009) according to the results of the external Russian and international audit. The University follows quality standards, internal and external audits are carried out on a regular basis.

A control step of each project stage comprises monitoring, control, and preparation of reporting on the corresponding project stage.

Aims of the control step are:

performance and results quality control;
project execution state monitoring, deviations disclosure, and quality plan adjustment to eliminate deviations disclosed;
guarantees of consistency of results and objectives of the project;
efficient problem-solving, identification of problem root causes, and performing of actions to eliminate problems;

A quality review implies the analysis of results of project activities against compliance with project standards and requirements. When developing a quality control plan (planning stage), quality reviews should be prepared on a regular basis in the process of execution of the project and should be supported with relevant comments.

We suggest that academic performance quality control should be performed through testing students on the issues of youth entrepreneurship development and support in EU countries. Academic training quality control should be performed during seminars when the students make reports followed by discussions. This enables to control a material comprehension volume. Upon completion of a course, the students will submit a paper which will help to evaluate material comprehension extent. Upon completion of a course, course leavers will be asked to respond to a course quality questionnaire designed to control training quality. Then, the questionnaires will be processed to disclose downsides of the course and to bring in measures to eliminate them.

A practical conference as well as away seminars will be minuted.