An innovative approach to entrepreneurship in higher and secondary education: cultural routes and economy of experience - a case study

The aim of the present study is to present how social entrepreneurship can find its place in higher and secondary education by involving students, through experiential learning, in the creative development of solutions for sustainable development of an area with rich cultural heritage. To this end, the present study followed the qualitative research method and constitutes a case-study of the town of Orchomenus in Boeotia, Greece. This case-study is based on field-research at the important historical monuments of the area organised by the DIAZOMA Association and the Teacher Education Program of Athens University of Economics and Business. Proposals made by groups of the student-teachers were formed through the research method and aimed at exploiting the rich heritage of the area in favour of its financial and cultural development, and showed that students' ideas were diverse, following objective and realistic criteria that responded to the needs and prospects of Orchomenus town. The study is the first of its kind in Greece and abroad, as it introduces for the first time the way students can learn the notions of social entrepreneurship and cultural sustainability through field-research and the project method.