The Ministry of Higher Education has recently published the national status of the student-entrepreneur, including many components that differentiate this new category of students from the average student.

As of next academic year, all public and private universities will welcome a wave of students of a different kind, benefiting from a special status: that of student-entrepreneur. After several months of reflection, carried out in conjunction with foreign partners such as the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, the government adopted a national status for student-entrepreneurs three days ago, setting out the eligibility criteria as well as the advantages of this particular condition.

A student-entrepreneur is any student of any new discipline who is regularly enrolled in a public or private university and who has an idea for a project and/or plans to create a business during their academic career or after graduation.

However, it is not enough to claim this special status to be associated with it. You must first apply and then go through a selection process during which an evaluation committee carefully examines the feasibility of the project presented by the applicant student, as well as assessing its qualities. The advantages for the student who succeeds in winning over the members of the evaluation committee are numerous.

They have the possibility of having privileged access to training and coaching sessions organised within the incubators housed at the university or at partners. They also have access to a group work space when provided by the institution or the entrepreneurial centre. They also benefit from flexibility in terms of courses, and their business creation project can also be considered as a final project. They also have access to support and personalised monitoring by academic or professional supervisors.

In the search for funding, they will be strongly supported by the university where they are regularly enrolled. But also from the ministerial departments that manage employment, vocational training and support for small and medium-sized enterprises. The government also indicates that these ministries will undertake actions aimed at improving the performance and competitiveness at local and international level of the new enterprises created by the student-entrepreneurs.