Learning Together with Entrepreneurs - Description of a Project-Based Learning Process

This article describes a learning process between students, teachers, entrepreneurs and partners based on the output of the first year students in HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences, Porvoo unit. The students carried out a research project which gave students opportunities to learn the business processes of the local small and medium sized companies. The project provided extensive hands-on material for further use for the students and the researchers and trained the team working and project management skills of the students. The research was the base for a further co-operation with the companies in the field of business developing tasks. This article consists of the following parts: the inquiry-based learning method, the progress of the project, the research questions, the main results of the interviews, the beneficiaries and the benefits of the project, and conclusions.