SALEEM – https://www.projet-saleem.org/ is a project coordinated by the Francophone University Agency and implemented by a consortium of 14 partners from Morocco, Tunisia, Belgium, France and Romania and 21 associated partners.
Co-financed by the European Union’s Erasmus + program for a period of 3 years, the project aims to promote student entrepreneurship in Morocco and Tunisia by creating a national system of student entrepreneurs through higher education programs. SALEEM, in partnership with employment agencies and economic actors, also aims to strengthen the capacity of higher education institutions to support student entrepreneurs from four pilot cities. In order to achieve this goal, ministries and educational institutions from France, Belgium and Romania will share student entrepreneurship best practices. At the national level, the higher education system in Morocco and Tunisia will recognize and create the right conditions for students to be able to study and simultaneously start a business. At the local level, the support centers created in the universities of the four pilot cities (Rabat, Casablanca, Tunis and Sfax) will allow students to have access to an equipped co-working space, specialized consulting assistance and liaisons with socio-economic actors. Moreover, the aim for these centers is to be developed in other cities at the initiative of ministries, universities and with the financial support of local public and private actors. Through this project higher education systems will be updated and the unemployment rate in Tunisia and Morocco will decrease.
In this project, the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca is represented by a team of professors and researchers with recognized expertise in the field of entrepreneurship. The team is composed of: Prof. Vasile Soporan, PhD, Eng., Prof. Romulus Terebeș, PhD, Eng., Prof. Laura Bacali, PhD, Eng., Sen. Lect. Cristiana Bulgaru, PhD, Sen. Lect. Ligia Moga, PhD, Eng.
In a first stage of the project TUCN team was involved in the drafting of a good practice guide developed in collaboration with the partner organizations. To prepare this guide, the team members developed together with representatives of the European universities of Lyon and Mons a plan to identify good practices in student entrepreneurship that will serve as a reference for the SALEEM project partners in Morocco and Tunisia. The paper comprises methodological information and an analysis of the functions an institutional entity that supports student entrepreneurship should have. These represent elements and circumstances that allow the creation of entrepreneurial tools and development of particular actions specifically created for the beneficiaries, aiming to stimulate their creativity and efficiency.
TUCN was also involved in the drafting and publication of the expert report to support female entrepreneurship in Tunisia and Morocco. This study is based on the experience of European partners in the field of female entrepreneurship – Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania), University of Mons (Belgium) and Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University (France) – and on institutional developments carried on worldwide and in Europe. Besides the members previously mentioned, Ioana-Alexandra Năstăsoiu, PhD, Eng. and Ancuța -Nicoleta Nastai, PhD, Eng. were also involved in drafting the expert report.
Several activities and meetings that brought together the representatives of the partners involved were organized. Between 16 and 19 September 2019 TUCN was the organizer of a training week, as part of the activities listed in the project, with the theme “Forming the teams of the 4 entrepreneurial centers by immersion in Europe”. The main objectives were:
- presentation and analysis of actions taken at TUCN for raising awareness, training and support for young entrepreneurs;
- conduct a course on entrepreneurial actions in the field of sustainable development, innovation and technology transfer, promoted by TUCN.
The recipients were the teams that work in the SALEEM centers to support student entrepreneurs from Morocco and Tunisia. The activities planned during the training week had the following schedule:
- Seminar: “Entrepreneurship, innovation and technology transfer at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (TUCN)”.
- Course: “Institutional management of entrepreneurial actions in the field of sustainable development” including certification of competencies in eco-entrepreneurship;
- Seminar: “Partnerships within the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca for eco-entrepreneurship training”.
The action, carried out under the patronage of Mr. Rector of TUCN Vasile Țopa, PhD, Eng. also benefited from the voluntary action of entrepreneurship specialists from Babeș-Bolyai University, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca and Art and Design University. Additional support came from representatives of the Cluj business environment as well as specialists in female entrepreneurship.
