The ARPEL4Entrep Erasmus+ project, Accreditation & Recognition of Prior Experience & Learning for Entrepreneurship (ARPEL4Entrep) has come to a close at the end of August 2023. This three-year Erasmus+ co funded project included a strong team of partners led by Advenio eAcademy (Malta), University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy), University of Ioannina (Greece), University of Zilina (Slovakia), Vilnius University (Lithuania), EUCEN European Centre for Entrepreneurial Networks (Spain) and AllSecure Ltd -eBusiness Systems (Malta). The scope of the project was to leverage the infrastructure and competencies of the partners in e-learning and the collective expertise and resources of the partners to create an accredited online Bachelor’s degree programme in Entrepreneurship for individuals with relevant work experience in small business. The programme provided a structured manner to integrate recognition of prior learning and innovative online coursework to enable participants to earn the required 180 ECTS credits at Level 6.
Without getting into the details of the project, suffice it to say that the first stage was based on research to collect data on the legal and regulatory position as well as best-practices of Recognition of Prior Learning policies from the partner countries. The research also identified core competences and skills identified by SMEs in a post-COVID reality. The results of this research served as the basis for the development of the ARPEL framework which will be included as part of a Bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship. This programme was accredited by the local regulator, the Malta Further & Higher Education Authority (MFHEA), allowing for the launch of a full-scholarship pilot intake in October 2021 and completion of the programme in June 2023. As part of the Erasmus+ project wrap-up events an international forum on recognition of prior learning in higher education was organised in Malta in June. In closing the event, the successful graduands were presented with their official Bachelor’s Degree in Entrepreneurship certificates.
At the Project Partners Transnational Meeting in Malta in June, the project partners renewed their commitment to the sustainability of the project. To improve the sustainability of the ARPEL project, the partners agreed that generous partial scholarships of up to 50% of total fees would be offered to candidates on the forthcoming October 2023 intake. As part of the international campaign to promote the sustainability of the Erasmus+ ARPEL project and its legacy programmes, suitable advertising on the popular WIZZAIR inflight magazine was taken. The print run of this publication is c. 300,000 copies per edition in addition to the thousands of readers on the online version.