WHY THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP CERTIFICATE?

The certificate is an offer of the Ruhr-University for undergraduate students. It is an additional qualification within the regular studies, and the special conditions for the “optional area” are noted in the text. Students can gain competencies and qualify for the topic of intra- and entrepreneurship in diverse contexts. The certificate is a profile enhancement for students who want to expand their key competencies, such as creativity, initiative, persuasiveness, etc., which, in addition to specialized knowledge, play an increasingly important role in today’s working world.

As a certificate, it attests the attendee a personal focus on:

• gaining new competencies,
• the formation of a profile for one’s career path and to improve career opportunities,
• to prove the acquisition or expansion of personal competencies in the field of entrepreneurship,
• to enable an interdisciplinary specialization in the field of entrepreneurship.

CONTENTS

• Introduction to the economic and social significance of entrepreneurship
• Identifying and reflecting on relevant personality traits of successful entrepreneurs
• Learning and practicing creativity methods to develop ideas for solving social and economic challenges
• Stimulating (self-)reflection and personality-enhancing processes
• Promoting one’s creative potential
• Discovering possibilities to implement one’s ideas in one’s profession, whether in the context of dependent employment (intrapreneurship) or one’s start-up
• Possibility to develop, improve and implement own start-up or project ideas
• Interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of entrepreneurship
• Introduction to multidisciplinary research transfer
• Stimulation for idea generation and validation
• Prepares students for a possible career in entrepreneurship and start-ups (start-up ecosystem)
• Learning skills for own research and start-up projects

WORKING FORMS

• interdisciplinary
• challenge-based
• in cooperation with founders and start-up coaches
• practice-theory-connective
• as transfer-oriented and project-based learning

TARGET GROUPS

• all Bachelor students
• Bachelor students who participate in the “optional area” can obtain the certificate there
• all those who work in the field of entrepreneurship and start-ups or who want to start up their own business
• all those who would like to acquire competencies such as idea development and validation, mobilization of resources, etc., to be able to initiate and carry out their own (start-up) projects
• no previous knowledge required

ACQUISITION

The certificate, for which 15 CP are required, distinguishes a self-selected specialization during the study – this means that the certificate can be acquired within the elective area of the bachelor’s research or, if students are allowed to use the optional area, via the certificate study located there.

Students who take courses as part of their specialized studies that are also offered as part of the certificate studies can use these courses in their regular studies program and for the certificate. The modules are identified each semester in the module search of the optional area. The certificate “Entrepreneurship” can be found under the heading “Certificates.”

The certificate shows that particular competencies in the field of entrepreneurship have been acquired during the study. Based on the EntreComp framework of the EU (Bacigalupo, M., Kampylis, P., Punie, Y., Van den Brande, G. (2016). EntreComp: The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework), the courses offered are structured in three different entrepreneurship competencies as well as associated sub-competencies to provide a comprehensive entrepreneurship profile:

1. Competence “Ideas & Opportunities

• Spotting opportunities – Identifying and seizing opportunities to create value by exploring the social, cultural, and economic landscape.
• Creativity – Targeted development of creative ideas
• Vision – Developing visions to turn ideas into action; visualizing future scenarios to guide efforts and activities.
• Valuing ideas – assessing values in social, cultural, and economic terms; recognizing and realizing the potential of ideas to create value
• Ethical & sustainable thinking – reflecting on and assessing the impact of business activities on the market, society, and the environment.

2. Competence “Resources

• Self-awareness & self-efficacy – Recognition and development of personal strengths and weaknesses; belief in oneself; development of self-efficacy
• Motivation & perseverance – own determination, resilience, perseverance; dealing with pressure and (temporary) failures
• Mobilizing resources – gathering, acquiring, and managing needed resources
• Financial & economic literacy – Estimating the cost of turning an idea into a value-adding activity; planning, implementing, and evaluating financial decisions
• Mobilizing others – Inspiring and engaging relevant stakeholders; negotiation, leadership, effective communication, and persuasion

3. Competence “Into Action

• Taking the initiative – initiating processes and taking on challenges
• Planning & management – planning and managing; setting and following priorities, setting long, medium, and short-term goals
• Coping with ambiguity, uncertainty & risk – dealing with and managing uncertainty and risk; making risky decisions
• Working with others – teamwork with others; networking; cooperating and resolving conflicts
• Learning through experience – gaining practical experience; reflecting on successes and failures, and learning from experience

To obtain the certificate, each competence area described above must be covered by at least one 5 CP module. A module can be assigned to several competence areas, providing a clear focus for the respective areas that can be identified (see the assignment in the module description). However, a single module can only be credited for one competence area at a time. Thus, three modules from the different competence areas must be completed.