Abstract:

As Confucio said: “What is heard is forgotten, what is seen is remembered and what is done is learned”. Since the Finnish education system is one of the better ranked in international ranks and the Spanish education system is not, the question that arise are Why do exist these differences?. What can be done to help the Spanish education system to get better in international ranks? Which changes have to be done to empower Spanish students with more tools and skills that may help them to face the continuing changes of modern world. On this paper it is intended to see the different resources and capabilities that the Finnish education and Finnish culture has in order to provide the students a good background and tools to go out in the real world and be prepared, compared to the Spanish case. The Finnish education is focused on the practical side of theories. The system used is P2P Projects in which the work is organized in groups from 5 to 7 people with different backgrounds and different nationalities. The aim of this P2P Projects is to solve a real problem posed by a real client. The team has to give feedback from their progress to the client and the lecturers. The topics of the projects are diverse, such as, campaign strategy planning, project management, entrepreneurship…, among others. Another important enhancer for the success of the Finnish education is the entrepreneur culture they have. Entrepreneurship nowadays is essential, not only the proper entrepreneurship where you might open a business, also the spirit of entrepreneurship inside a company. There is always room for entrepreneurship and today, more than ever, this is a clue issue for success. The challenges of globalization and talent attraction to the organizations require these entrepreneur competences. In this study we want to see how the Spanish education system would benefit from applying the best practices in the Finnish case.

The methodology applied is based in interviews placed to 15 students who have participated in the P2P Program in Finland. Twenty one open questions in each interview with a closed set of questions related to age, nationality, and length of time spent on the program. The methodology used is qualitative, based in specific and open ended questions. To assess how far the gap recognized between theoretical business education and business reality is being filled interviews were carried out. The interview questions were approached in a logical and thorough way. The way a question is framed can influence the answers given by the interviewee and in this particular case it was decided that it was important to avoid leading questions and trying to persuade the students to give a certain type of answer. The same interview has been made to 25 university students at the Degree of Business management, who are familiar with entrepreneurship and project management. It is intended to see the implications of both approaches building bridges for a better acquisition of entrepreneurial skills by the Spanish educational system.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship, Education System, Learning by doing, Culture, Experiential Learning, Entrepreneurial Skills.