University of Vaasa students outside on the seaside campus.

International Summer School

Do you want to learn more about entrepreneurship and venturing in an international context? The University of Vaasa Summer School on Entrepreneurship and Venturing will take place in August 2025. The three-week academic programme helps you gain essential entrepreneurial knowledge and skills in an international context.
Summer School 2024
Katso video

Multidisciplinary Summer School by domain experts

The Summer School on Entrepreneuship and Venturing combines lectures, discussion sessions and workshops with practical activities lead by domain experts. The guest speakers of the programme include renowned academics as well as company representatives. Our instructors are experts in their fields and teach with enthusiasm and contemporary relevance. As it is a multidisciplinary course that invites students from different universities, you will get to work together with students from different fields and backgrounds. 

The Summer School takes place in Vaasa, also known as the energy hub of the Nordic countries. Vaasa is the educational, cultural and tourist centre of Western Finland, located by the sea near the Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage area. Our unique maritime campus is a short walk away from Vaasa city centre. Each week of the Summer School, we will organise extra-curricular activities in the beautiful seaside city and its surroundings.

Who is the Summer School for?

The Summer School is for students who are interested to build a global start-up or seeking to work at an established company with intrapreneurial competences sparking innovations that have the potential to address global market needs. We welcome students from different academic disciplines and  levels. The programme is in English, so you need to have fluent English language skills to participate.

More information about egilibility and pricing will be added here later.

Courses and Schedules

The University of Vaasa Summer School consists of three courses: Ideation and Venture Creation (3 ECTS), International Entrepreneurship (5 ECTS) and Start-up Scouting and Valuation (2 ECTS). You can sign up for all of the courses or select the ones you are most interested in. Some courses may include pre-learning activities.

Detailed schedule for each course / week can be found and downloaded below under each week's description before the course / week starts.

During this course, you will learn to understand the process of entrepreneurship from identification of problems, ideation and brainstorming to evaluation. After completing the course, you can apply different approaches for brainstorming and ideation, create early business models and know how to evaluate and pitch ideas. The course will include workshops, team work and individual work. 

The International Entrepreneurship course will help you understand the dynamics of entrepreneurship in an international context. You will learn how to discover, evaluate, and exploit of international venture opportunities. You will develop essential skills using various tools and frameworks during the entrepreneurial process with particular attention to applying brainstorming and simulation tools for sparking innovative ideas with the potential to address global market needs. In addition, you will learn how to set up an international business plan for the launch of a global start-up or a new international venture at an existing business.

The course will consist of lectures by academics, workshops/seminars, teamwork, pitching and presentations, individual work, and other collaborative learning activities to maximise learning outcomes.

By the end of the Start-up Scouting and Valuation course, you will have a more in-depth understanding of startups and their importance for disrupting businesses. You will be able to scout start-ups and analyse meaningful metrics that indicate successful performance and sustainable development of start-ups. You will learn how to identify and evaluate different start-ups and create rankings that can be used to predict company futures. The course supports the development of skills in the areas of analytical and critical thinking, collaboration in diverse teams and business research and analysis.

The course activities include lectures, investor and start-up company guest-speakers, workshops, individual and group assignments such as scouting and pre-evaluation of start-up companies.

How to apply?

The University of Vaasa Summer School application instructions, selection criteria and schedule will be updated here later.  

Prepare for your stay

To ensure a smooth Summer School experience, remember to book your travels and accommodation well in advance. Please contact your local institution about the possibility to receive financial support to organise your stay at Vaasa.

There are many possible ways to travel to Vaasa depending on your departure location and travelling preferences. Usually the easiest way to reach Vaasa from aboard is to fly to the Helsinki airport and from there, continue with a flight to the Vaasa Airport or by train to the Vaasa train station. There are three daily flights from Helsinki to Vaasa and several daily train connections. Please visit the Finnish rail company VR’s website for more information about train connections. 

Remember to make sure you have all your travel documents up-to-date. If you are not a citizen of a Schengen member state, you will need a visa for your stay. The accepted students will receive the invitation letter needed in the visa application from the University. Please make sure that you have all the documents for the visa application well in advance, such as your passport, travel insurance, hotel reservations, flight tickets etc. More information about the visa requirements in Finland. 

You will receive more information about the prices and possible discounts with the confirmation letter. There is the opportunity to share a room with other students if you are travelling as a group. It is recommended to book your travels and accommodation as soon as you receive the confirmation.