Promoting entrepreneurship at Université Polytechnique Hauts de France (UPHF)
Promoting entrepreneuship is part of the UPHF’s adn. Major actions are a specific center (Hubhouse), a national student entrepreneur status, entrepreneurship courses and partnerships with entrepreneurial organizations.
The Hubhouse
The Hubhouse is the center for entrepreneurship at Université Polytechnique Hauts de France (UPHF). The Hubhouse provide students with a coaching for business creation while they are students. These students benefit from a National Student Entrepreneur Status if they wish.
The Hubhouse is the coordinator of an annual entrepreneurial event for students : “the 48h chrono challenge“.
The 48h chrono challenge is opened to all students of UPHF and is aimed at raising awareness of entrepreneurship. During two days, end of november, students develop a project and defend it in front of a jury of professionals. The best projects receive professional coaching afterwards.
2023 will be the 10th edition of the “48h chrono challenge”.
The hubhouse organize other activities yearly, such as the “one day with a company leader” event and the “women and entrepreurship” month.
More information on the hubhouse: https://www.uphf.fr/en/training/business/hubhouse
The Status of student entrepreneur
The status of student entrepreneur was implemented by the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research in order to develop the entrepreneurial spirit among young people under the age of 28. Students with this status can substitute their internship by time working on their project; they can access coaching provided by the Hubhouse and the entrepreneurial ecosystem around the UPHF; at last, they can take an entrepreneurial diploma parallel to their university studies.
More information on the status of student entrepreneur: https://www.uphf.fr/en/training/business/status-student-entrepreneur
The entrepreneurship modules
Launched in 2015, the cross-disciplinary entrepreneuship module aims at introducing students to the mechanisms and spirit of entrepreneurship. It runs every semester (2 ECTS credits).
In all bachelor and master programs of UPHF, awareness of entrepreneurship programs are proposed, in accordance with the governement policy.
In IAE department (University School of Management), specific modules of innovation and design thinking are proposed to 3rd year Management bachelor students. Moreover, one master is specifically dedicated to students who have an entrepreneurial project (Entrepreneurship and Project Management Master). In the Insa Department, all third year ingenieur students participate to the “Creathon”, a one week innovation and entrepreneurial contest. Students from the 2nd year Entrepreneurship and Project Management Master participate to the coaching of this event.
More information on the cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship module:
https://www.uphf.fr/en/training/business/transversal-entrepreneurship-module (in french)
More information on the “Entrepreneurship and Project Management Master degree” (in french):
A network of partners
The UPHF network for entrepreuneurship is both internal and external.
Inside the university, 26 people are involved in all university departments, to co-organize activities and coach students depending on their specific needs.
Outside the university, Uphf, the Hubhouse and the IAE Department have developped strong parnerships with the territory actors: the Transalley mobility cluster on the university main campus (https://www.transalley.com/en/) , the Serre Numerique digital cluster in Valencienens Metropole (https://serre-numerique.fr/), the Reseau-Entreprendre group in Hainaut Province (https://www.reseau-entreprendre.org/hainaut/) are major partners and provide courses, internships,etc.