Business simulation before and after ENTRE4FUTURE PROJECT: lessons learned

This paper presents the lessons learned after the introduction of Business Simulation (BS) courses at ISCAP / IPP as a result of the participation in the international project "Entre4Future -Simulation for Entrepreneurship".Besides the exchange of professional experience among teachers, researchers and students, Entre4future Project intends to develop outputs, such as teaching methodologies and innovative contents to prepare young people to be entrepreneurs.Partners from different levels of education (vocational schools, higher education institutions) and from the business world (Chambers of Commerce and Industry) were selected to be part of the project.BS courses are part of the Accounting and Administration degree since 2003 and methodologies used are in some way innovative, as the aim is to provide the students the possibility to work in a real (but simulated and risk free) business environment.Although some previous studies demonstrated the importance of BS for profession life of accounting and administration students, it was recognized that when it comes to develop entrepreneurial skills small gaps were identified.In order to overcome this problem and using the knowledge acquired with the Entre4future project, additional training was provided in order to prepare students in areas where they were not sufficiently prepared, using BS.The paper shows the very positive perception of students to this initiative and gives some clues to a possible inclusion of this new training in BS courses, which are part of the programme of studies of the Accounting and Administration degree.