Become a part of the broad business@school network

Every year, over 1,000 students, 150 teachers, and roughly 400 coaches participate in the educational initiative business@school. Will you soon be one of them? Here, you can find out how to get involved in business@school as a teacher, coach, or senior high school student, how to provide support as a parent, or how to become a part of our broad network as an alumnus.

 

What exactly is business@school, anyway? Find out here.

Schools and teachers

Companies and coaches

Students

Parents

b@s alumni

Schools and teachers

 You’d like to give your students a hands-on, close-up look at how the world of business works?
 Do you enjoy project work and want to become part of a comprehensive network of schools and companies?

Then apply for your school to participate in business@school!
See the personal development of your students as they create their own business ideas, work with coaches from business, and compete with teams from other schools.

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How to Participate in business@school at Your School

  • Experience business and entrepreneurship hands-on for a school year: You open your school and work with coaches from the business community. It expands your school’s network while your students analyze large companies as well as local companies and develop their own start-up ideas in three phases.
  • Exciting project management role: You coordinate the cooperation between your school, coaches from the business community, and the business@school project office. To ensure project progress, meet with teams at least once a week—virtually or in person.
  • Find the right participants and attendees: At least twelve students work together in three teams. You’d like to participate with fewer students? That’s possible too. Just get in touch with us!
  • The best team wins: After each phase, the students present their results to a panel of judges. At the end of phase III, the best teams compete against each other in regional competitions and finally in the International Finals.

What’s in It for You?

  • You don’t have to create your own teaching materials: You will have access to our project platform with comprehensive learning materials, accompanying documentation, your own learning videos, and helpful checklists. Team management and contact with the coaches also run conveniently on our platform.
  • You’ll benefit from our many years of experience: business@school was developed with teachers, so it’s ideally suited to the needs of schools. Among other things, we offer online workshops with a wide variety of content and formats.
  • We’re flexible: Whether online or in person, whether during regular class time, as an elective or part of an after-school project group—business@school can be integrated into your everyday school life in a variety of ways.
  • You don’t have to have studied business to join in: Our materials convey comprehensive and practical business and start-up know-how, and the supervisors and our project office are there to help and advise you.
  • A network for life: You and your students will work closely with the coaches and gain deep insights into the world of companies and start-ups. Therefore, business@school is also well suited within the framework of career orientation.
  • Your students will also benefit from participating: They become part of an exciting project and learn important skills for the future, such as teamwork, presentation techniques, and media skills in a fun way. At the end of the project year, every student receives a personalized certificate of participation.

By the way, our videochallenge is an excellent way to get younger students excited about participating in business@school in the future. Any student between the ages of 14 and 20 can participate, regardless of school type.

 

Please feel free to e‑mail Nadine Jedliczka with any questions.

If you would like to apply with your school for the school year 2024/2025, register as a teacher and complete our application form between November 1, 2023, and March 1, 2024. We will activate the link here from the beginning of November.

 

 

 

Teachers are enthusiastic about business@school

  • It's great to see how some of the quieter students start to speak up and flourish.

  • Often, students notice only afterward how much they learned in business@school.

  • The materials on the platform are really good and extremely helpful.

  • The project office does an extraordinarily good job of guiding us through the project year. The personal contact we have is so valuable. Many thanks!

  • Working with the coaches is so much fun. It's incredibly interesting to see how they work. I've really learned a lot.

  • The online meetings with coaches work great. Sometimes we interact even more deeply and frequently than we did before.

Companies and coaches

 Your company would like to get involved in business as a subject at schools?
 You want to give your employees the opportunity to share their business know-how and expertise with high school students?
 Corporate social responsibility and sustainability & development targets (SDGs) are more to your company than just buzzwords?

If so, our educational initiative is just the thing!
Get to know Generation Z face to face. Learn to understand their concerns, hopes, and ambitions. Every year, over 400 employees from roughly 20 partner companies and BCG support participating students as coaches in the business@school project over the course of one school year. They help students learn entrepreneurial skills and know-how, enabling them to develop ideas, compile business plans, and start and run their own businesses. As coaches, your employees can use their practical business experience to prepare young people for everything that awaits them during life after school.

 

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business@school offers ...

  • ... companies a way to make an impact by partnering with a project that has been successfully building bridges between business and schools for 25 years
  • ... employees an opportunity for personal development as they deepen their leadership skills and act as company ambassadors while coaching student teams and taking responsibility for them in the business@school project
  • ... a customized digital platform (compliant with European privacy law) for everyone involved in the project, including extensive supporting materials and resources for all three phases of the project that complement our workshops and events
  • ... numerous ways to tell the world about your employees' involvement in the project as coaches (social media, press and PR, and internal communications)
  • ... the opportunity to network with coaches from other partner companies and with business@school alumni

Your company supports business@school …

  • ... by providing at least five employees to spend around 30 – 50 hours total per school year—both online and at participating schools—supporting student teams (in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) as coaches, teaching them business basics and helping them to understand balance sheets and develop their own business ideas
  • ... at business@school competitions, by providing infrastructure (rooms/equipment) and/or employees to serve as judges
  • ... as a part of our network for life, by maintaining relationships with everyone involved in the business@school project (schools and teachers, students, and alumni)

What do business@school coaches do?

Support a student team (of 5 – 7 members) over the course of one school year and the three phases of the project (first with the analysis of a large company, then with the analysis of a small company, and finally with the development of their own business idea)

  • Teach business basics
  • Help students learn key skills (e.g., presentation techniques, teamwork, and resilience)
  • Develop students' digital and communications competence
  • Use the newest versions of supporting materials on the ProjectCommunity platform
  • Participate in project kickoff and mid-year workshops

Sounds interesting? Send an e-mail to Wanda Jakob to find out more.

 

Coaches tell about their experiences

  • It's really fun to help students learn something beyond regular classroom instruction.

  • I've been able to practice my coaching skills.

  • business@school lets me work in a new environment and gain a fresh perspective.

  • I've learned to be patient and open in dealing with people who are different than I am.

  • Volunteering as a coach helped me to network effectively at my company.

  • business@school lets me put team leadership and motivation into practice.

  • Working with the team taught me how to explain complex topics in a simple way.

  • I'm able to develop my skills as a manager by motivating and guiding diverse students without influencing their creativity.

Students

You want less theory and more practice in school?
 Do you find start-ups exciting, or would you like to start your own company one day?

Then business@school is right for you!
In our educational initiative, you’ll not only learn basic concepts of business and companies but also develop your own business idea, including a business plan, with your team. You’ll be supported by coaches from our partner companies, giving you the opportunity to work with real experts from the business world.

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What Can You Expect at business@school?

  • You’ll become a business expert in three progressive phases: In phases I and II, you will look at companies and acquire basic business knowledge that you can later apply in phase III.
  • After each phase, you and your team present your results to a panel of judges.
  • The winners at your school will compete against the best teams from other international schools in the International Finals at the end of phase III.

What’s in It for You?

  • Future skills such as teamwork, time management, and presenting will no longer be a challenge, because you will learn them all in the course of the three phases at business@school. That way you are super prepared for life after school. In addition, you’ll receive a personalized certificate of participation at the end of the project year.
  • The contacts you make in our alumni network during the course of the project and afterward are priceless—a real network for life. And who knows? Maybe you’ll implement your business@school business idea and can use this network for it.

Does business@school sound interesting to you, but you are actually looking for a more flexible project? Then also take a look at our videochallenge. All students between the ages of 14 and 20 can participate.

Is your school not yet involved? Get in touch with us—we’ll be happy to send your school information about how to get involved.

 

What former participants say about business@school

  • The best subject of all! It's a change of pace from school as usual and you learn how to question things.

  • A great way for students to invest their time!

  • I'm really grateful for business@school. I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Now I love being a coach for other students.

  • business@school didn't just help me to better understand how business works, it also taught me media and social skills.

  • It's one of the best projects you can do for your personal future.

Parents

 Your child wants to participate in business@school?

That's great!
Over the course of one full school year, students not only learn how business works, but also acquire important soft skills that will prepare them for life after school. Even if you as a parent don't get directly involved in business@school, you can support us in other ways.

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Help teams with your contacts

Do you have contacts at local companies? This can be a welcome form of support, especially in phase II. Or do you run your own small business? Have it analyzed by one of the participating student teams and explain to them what motivates you as an entrepreneur.

Attend school and regional competitions as a guest

Experience your child full of enthusiasm in a completely new context. You'll be amazed at how knowledgeably and persuasively your son or daughter presents his or her team's own business idea to an expert panel of judges and deftly answers critical questions. And of course, it helps to keep your fingers crossed in moral support

Your child's school is not yet participating in business@school?

Get in touch with us, and we'll be happy to send you informational material for the school.

Alumni

Meet - Connect - Support

The business@school alumni organization for all former participants. Meet at our alumni events, connect and network with other former participants, and support each other—exclusive opportunities help you do all this and more! 28,000 participants and excellent partners enable you to make the most of your previous participation in business@school.