The U.S. Department of State has awarded Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute (LSI) and the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship a grant to enhance entrepreneurship education in Armenia.
In partnership with the Armenian State University of Economics (ASUE), the project is underway and will run through September 2026.
The project will develop Armenian STEM and social entrepreneurship through a collaboration between Florida State and the Armenian State University of Economics (ASUE).
U.S. faculty will train ASUE faculty and administrators on entrepreneurship education, support the creation of a STEM Social Innovators Incubator at ASUE and partner with Armenian peers to develop four FSU/ASUE courses on social entrepreneurship. They will also incorporate a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project through the new courses and implement an FSU/ASUE certificate in social entrepreneurship.
Vilma Fuentes, program director for the FSU Ukraine Task Force and an associate in research at LSI, will serve as the project’s co-principal investigator along with Susana Santos, associate professor of entrepreneurship in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship.
“Our work in Armenia is just the beginning of what we hope will be a lasting partnership,” Santos said. “By building a strong foundation in entrepreneurship education, we are setting the stage for sustained collaboration that will benefit both our institutions and the broader global community for years to come.”
The project aims to establish a collaborative STEM Social Innovators Incubator at ASUE to encourage youth entrepreneurship, elevate entrepreneurial knowledge and skills of faculty and administrators and train students in the basic principles of entrepreneurship by creating and implementing what will be part of the FSU/ASUE certificate in social entrepreneurship. Other goals include applying knowledge of social and design thinking through the FSU-ASUE COIL project and creating a new institutional partnership between FSU and ASUE that will promote mutual understanding, collaboration and respect between Armenians and Americans.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity to promote entrepreneurship education in a former Soviet country, develop a new international partnership, and implement project-based virtual exchange projects with students and faculty in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship,” Fuentes said. “This work could be applied to other countries and contexts in the future.”
LSI is at the forefront of developing innovative solutions that bridge theory and practice in education. Their experts’ advanced research provides state-of-the-art methods and a clear path for implementation. For 55 years, LSI has delivered systems that measurably improve the learning and performance of organizations and individuals in Florida and worldwide.
The Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship is the nation’s first standalone College of Entrepreneurship at a public university. The college aims to spread entrepreneurship across FSU’s campus and serve all students through collaborative programs, competitions, resources, and more. JMC offers students three undergraduate majors, five graduate majors, 10 minors and extracurricular opportunities to inspire innovation, instill compassion and ignite an entrepreneurial mindset in the next generation of leaders.