In a meeting held at the Benguet State University on June 14-15, 2023, the PATHWAY team for Work Package 1 facilitated workshops and deliberations to polish the National Entrepreneurship Competencies Framework proposal. This was participated by project partners face to face and through Zoom. The result will be proposed for adoption to the Philippine National Government with the endorsement of the Commission on Higher Education.

On June 14, the participants of the said meeting were welcomed by BSU President Felipe Salaing Comila and Dr. Stanley F. Anongos, BSU Special Assistant for International Affairs. This was followed by presentations of project partners on the definitions of Entrepreneurial Competencies and how they can be integrated into the curriculum. The framework includes 25 entrepreneurial competencies categorized into Entrepreneurial Mindset to Resource Management; Sense of Ownership to Sustainable Thinking; Self Esteem to Upskilling and Reskilling; Product Development & Innovation Skills to Leadership Flexibility; and Ethical Mindset to Motivational Skills. Deliberations were done after each presentation in order for the participants to arrive at a consensus on how each competency would be defined. In the afternoon, comments from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) were deliberated and incorporated into the framework.

Day 2 of the meeting began with a visit to the BSU Agri-based Technology Business Incubator Innovation Center. Participants spent the rest of the day presenting and deliberating on how Entrepreneurial Competencies can be integrated in the curriculum, the skills needed to be manifested in each competency, the performance success indicators with rubrics, the teaching –learning activities for the specific competencies and the extra-curricular activities among students to develop and demonstrate entrepreneurial skills. They also presented the existing and future activities towards promoting the entrepreneurial competencies they discussed in their respective universities.

The Pathway Project, where BSU is a partner, is co-funded by the European Union and it aims at enhancing the entrepreneurship and employability culture of Higher Education Institutions in the Philippines, to meet labor market needs and government reforms.//JSTabangcura