The Prince of Girona Foundation and the Valnalón Technological City, a public company set up by the Principality of Asturias, have signed a collaboration agreement to develop a pilot scheme during the 2011-2012 school year in various centres within the Girona counties, thereby incorporating it into the Young European Enterprise educational network.
As part of this agreement, Valnalón will provide technical assistance to seven secondary educational centres over the current academic year to help set up the project which consists of promoting school cooperatives. The more than 100 participating students have to launch school cooperatives, manage them and wind them up at the end of the academic year in June.
To publicise and recognise the efforts made by the participating students, a market of all the cooperatives created will be held in May and the business plans and evaluation of the different business experiences will be presented to representatives of the Girona Chamber of Commerce and to general public opinion.
The participating centres are Narcís Xifra, Vicens Vives, Bell-lloc del Pla and Maristas (Girona), Celrà, Llagostera, Sant Elm (Sant Feliu de Guíxols) and La Bisbal d'Empordà, and the La Cellera centre of the Lethe Foundation.
The Young European Enterprise project, which is aimed at students in their fourth year of secondary education, covers all the cross-curricular competencies required of students of this age and is an excellent resource for awakening young people's restless spirit and entrepreneurial abilities.
Valnalón's experience of entrepreneurial education goes back to 1993 and includes programmes for students at primary, secondary and sixth form level, those in vocational training, studying university degrees and students with learning difficulties.
These projects have been recognised on four occasions by the European Union as an example of good educational practice.With this agreement, the Prince of Girona Foundation reaffirms its commitment to encouraging young people's entrepreneurial initiative as one of its strategies for supporting the young, as summarised in its 2012 Action Plan.
