With the CvO (Center for Entrepreneurship), Fontys wants to stimulate entrepreneurship among students and make the combination of studying and having your own company easier. But what is the reason for educational institutions to focus on that and what problems does this solve? Victor van der Linden and Irene Vriezen from the CvO are answering these questions.
“Your student years are the ideal time to start your own business”Victor van der Linden,
Why is it the education’s job to focus on entrepreneurship?
“As an educational institution it is part of our corporate purpose, preparing people for the future as well as possible. We see entrepreneurship becoming more and more important in society. That is why it’s important to pass this on to students, so that they can contribute to society and the economy.”
Why is entrepreneurship so important for students?
“As a student, you generally have more time to set up a company and think it through, that is the ideal time to start your own business. Many business owners already quit within two years, but now we have the possibility to teach students how to have a successful business. We want to help students find out what type of entrepreneur they are.”
What problems are you hoping to solve with the new entrepreneurs scheme?
“We noticed that students gave up their education because their company was doing well. Studying took up too much time alongside the business. We think that’s a shame because if your company doesn’t turn out as well as you had expected, you have no degree to fall back on.
We also noticed students coming up with very good ideas for projects, but not doing anything with it because they didn’t have enough time next to their course. To encourage students to start an entrepreneurship, we have an arrangement that allows you to do an internship and even graduate within your own company.”
Start-ups
The CvO has supported several start-ups, so that students can easily combine the company with their course. Two examples of this are Yacks and Flying and Parking. Yacks is a video company run by four journalism students that
Yacks is a video company run by four journalism students that makes videos about the Generation Y. Through these videos they want to show that that generation is creative and enterprising. Flying and Parking is a comparison website for car parks at airports, set up by two students from Someren. The website compares car parks at airports in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium to find you the best parking spot.
Flying and Parking is a comparison website for car parks at airports, set up by two students from Someren. The website compares car parks at airports in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium to find you the best parking spot.
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