ARPEL4Entrep Project – Transnational Meeting held in Vilnius, Lithuania 13th January 2023

From Left to Right: (Mr. Vytenis Mockus, Project Manager – Vilnius University; Prof. Radovan Madlenak, Professor – University of Zilina; Ms. Ieva Druktenė, Project coordinator – Vilnius University; Mr. James Scerri, System Administrator – Advenio eAcademy; Kirstin Sonne, Project Officer – EUCEN; Prof. Alessandro Pagano, Professor – University of Bari Aldo Moro; Dr. Jenny Pange, Dean of the School of Education – University of Ioannina; Danutė Rasimavičienė, Head of Academic Staff – Vilnius University; Mr. Stephen P. D’Alessandro, Executive Director – Advenio eAcademy; Nicholas D’Alessandro, Managing Director AllSecure Ltd – eBusiness Systems)

From Left to Right: (Mr. James Scerri, System Administrator – Advenio eAcademy; Mr. Stephen P. D’Alessandro, Executive Director – Advenio eAcademy)

The ARPEL project implementation was launched in September 2020 when Advenio eAcademy as the lead partner in the consortium, entered into a grant Agreement with EUPA, the Malta National Agency, on behalf of Erasmus+ for the EU funding of the project “Integrated RPL & APEL Level 6 Accredited Online Programme for Entrepreneurs“, ARPEL4Entrep. Its has been a very busy period for all consortium partners in their involvmeents with the different elements of the development and implementation of the project. The project partners are: Advenio eAcademy, Malta (lead partner); University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy; University of Ioannina, Greece; University of Zilina, Slovakia; Vilnius University, Lithuania; EUCEN – European University Continuing Education Network, Spain; and AllSecure Ltd – eBusiness Systems, Malta.

This project provides a framework for recognition of prior learning to enable seasoned entrepreneurs to continue with their studies at a first-degree level. It focuses on the development of Accreditation & Recognition of Prior & Experiential Learning (ARPEL) process where credit is given for learning which has not previously been assessed and formally accredited. Since September 2020 the project has implemented a research process that served as the basis for the development of the ARPEL process. It has since developed and piloted the process through this project.

On the 12th January 2023, Vilnius University hosted a workshop meeting with other members of faculty to discuss RPL and ARPEL processes and how these are currently being implemented in different countries and institutions.

The Vilnius Transnational Meeting was held on the 13th January 2023 and followed up on discussions held during the Transnational Meeting held in Ioannina in October 2022 regarding the assignment of supervisors for the final research project Module as well as methods for further project dissemination.

The discussions at the transnational meeting included an analysis of student feedback on the subject modules already implemented. The excellent feedback from students was most encouraging.

A live online session was held with the Bachelor in Entrepreneurship students and all final project supervisors. During the online session, each student presented and explained their final research project ideas and thoughts. This was a constructive session as feedback from different project supervisors was given to each individual student.

A discussion of the dissemination activities to be held prior to the completion of the project was then held to ensure that the full project programme is implemented within the timeframes set. Discussions also focused on the content for a series of feature articles and a content for peer reviewed journals.

The meeting also discussed the sustainability of the ARPEL Bachelor’s Degree in Entrepreneurship programme once the Erasmus+ project is completed and further developments to extend this for other programmes and EQF levels.