EIT Food Education: Leading the way in bridging Europe's Entrepreneurship Skills Gap
The newly published Eurydice report "Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe 2025" explores how entrepreneurship education is integrated across Europe, examining policy frameworks, curricula, teacher training, and practical learning experiences.
The findings of the Eurydice report strongly reinforce the mission of EIT Food Education.
The Eurydice Report is a publication by the European Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).
Our Competency Framework, together with our portfolio of programmes—from the Master in Food Systems, to our entrepreneurship programmes, to youth initiatives—already reflects the broad, transversal understanding of entrepreneurship championed by the European Commission.Â
We integrate creativity, opportunity recognition, problem-solving, leadership, resilience, and real-world project experience across all learning pathways.Â
Crucially, our programmes go beyond theory: they provide hands-on, challenge-led, industry-connected learning, directly addressing the report’s call for practical entrepreneurial experiences and leadership development.Â
By aligning with EntreComp principles and tackling the skills gaps identified in the report, EIT Food Education is preparing the next generation of innovators and change-makers who will drive transformation across Europe’s food system.
How EIT Food addresses the challenges
Entrepreneurship is one of the eight key competences for lifelong learning - a crucial skillset for fostering innovation and empowering young people to navigate social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Entrepreneurship is one of the eight key competences in our Competency Framework and embedded in all our Education Programmes.
Our Comptency Framework equips learners with the mindset, creativity, and problem-solving skills needed to turn ideas into impactful action. By linking education to real-world agri-food challenges, we help learners develop not only business-oriented competencies but also the ability to drive sustainable change in society.
Through projects like the Deep Tech Talent Initiative (DTTI), delivered in collaboration with JA Europe, we bring entrepreneurial learning to life, empowering students to apply creativity and innovation to real agri-food challenges.
Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe 2025: New Eurydice Report Highlights Progress and Critical Gaps
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A new Eurydice report, Entrepreneurship education at school in Europe – 2025, provides the most comprehensive overview yet of how European countries are equipping young people with entrepreneurial mindsets and skills. Covering 38 education systems across 36 countries, the report shows encouraging momentum—yet also reveals several gaps that limit the full potential of entrepreneurship as a core life competence.Â
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Entrepreneurship is now part of every European curriculum
For the first time, all education systems include entrepreneurship education in primary and general secondary curricula. Most countries use a cross-curricular approach, embedding entrepreneurial thinking across subjects, while upper secondary levels increasingly offer specialised courses and business-oriented subjects. This confirms a growing recognition of entrepreneurship as a life skill rather than a narrow business topic.
But students experience an uneven mix of skills
Using the European Commission’s EntreComp framework, the report examined six entrepreneurial abilities—from spotting opportunities to risk-taking and financial literacy. While financial and economic literacy is widely taught, vital mindset-driven abilities such as vision, opportunity recognition, and coping with uncertainty remain underrepresented, particularly in primary and lower secondary education. This points to a continuing imbalance between knowledge-based and attitude-based competences.
Hands-on entrepreneurial experiences remain optional
The report highlights that while most systems offer practical entrepreneurial experiences—such as mini-companies, school start-up projects or enterprise challenges—these are far more common as extracurricular activities than as part of the compulsory curriculum. As a result, many young people miss out on applied learning that turns theory into action.
Policies are advancing, but leadership training is lagging
Most countries now include entrepreneurship within national strategies—either as part of broader education, skills, or economic development plans, or in a small number of cases, as dedicated entrepreneurship strategies.
However, training for school leaders is notably limited, despite the essential role they play in creating a whole-school entrepreneurial culture. While 19 systems provide teacher training opportunities in entrepreneurship education, far fewer provide equivalent support for school leaders.
A call to shift from optional to essential
Overall, the Eurydice report shows substantial progress: entrepreneurship education is more visible, more integrated, and more supported than ever. Yet it also highlights a persistent challenge—entrepreneurial learning is still too often optional.
To unlock its full value for future societies, the report suggests strengthening practical, creative and resilience-building aspects of entrepreneurship, embedding them throughout the curriculum, and supporting schools with clear guidance and leadership development.