In this episode of the ScreenME Podcast, Ulrike Rohn is joined by Anette Kairikko from Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland and Merle Levassor from Tallinn University in Estonia. Together, they explore what student entrepreneurship really means today.

The conversation takes a broad view of student entrepreneurship, going far beyond start-ups and company creation. The guests discuss entrepreneurial mindsets, learning environments, and how universities can support students who engage in entrepreneurial activities alongside their studies. Drawing on a recent collaborative research project in Estonia and Finland, they reflect on students’ motivations, challenges, support structures and skill needs.

The episode highlights the importance of experiential and interdisciplinary learning, mentoring, peer networks, and institutional flexibility. It also addresses wellbeing, workload and burnout risks among highly active students, the role of international and regional ecosystems in small markets, and how universities can better recognise learning that takes place outside the classroom.

Overall, the episode offers practical and policy-relevant insights for universities that want to strengthen entrepreneurial education, support student entrepreneurs, and embed entrepreneurial competences across disciplines.

Key quotes

“Student entrepreneurship should be seen as a wider phenomenon – not only as starting a company, but as engaging in entrepreneurial activities and learning environments.”

“Traditional lecture-based or business-plan-heavy teaching approaches were frequently described as outdated or demotivating by student entrepreneurs.”

“Mentoring is one of the key elements in supporting student entrepreneurship.”

“Interdisciplinarity is essential – innovation flourishes when people from different backgrounds work together.”

“Study time is a perfect moment to try, test and even fail in a safe environment.”

Bios

Anette Kairikko (PhD) works as a Principal lecturer at Turku University of Applied Sciences and leads the Research group Entrepreneurship and value creation. Her research interests cover many facets of entrepreneurship including SME growth and innovation, entrepreneurial ecosystems, sustainable value creation, and entrepreneurship education. She has 25 + years of versatile experience from business and entrepreneurship. In addition to research and development projects, she has long experience of lecturing at higher education and being a practitioner in large and small companies including start-ups.

Merle Levassor works as a Coordinator of Entrepreneurship Studies supporting the staff and students of Tallinn University interested in entrepreneurial activities and recently launched the universitys' first first pre-incubation programme.  Additionally, she is pursuing her doctoral degree in Political Sciences in the School of Governance, Law and Society both at Tallinn University. The topics she is focusing on professionally are impact entrepreneurship and impact measurement, social innovation and social economy, and civil society engagement in policymaking. She has previously worked as a junior researcher on a European Commission project SoFiMa that mapped the investment needs and readiness of Estonian impact enterprises and is now working alongside many of the same partner organisations to develop a national competence center for social innovation in Estonia under a project of The European Social Innovation Alliance (ESIA) co-funded by the European Union as part of the European Social Fund (ESF+ Social Innovation+ Initiative).

Host: Ulrike Rohn

Sound engineer: Tanel Kadalipp (episode 1-14), Sangam Panta (episode 15 -


https://bfmentrepreneurhub.tlu.ee/screenme-podcast/