On Monday 10 July 2023, more than 150 students gathered for the first National Training Company Final, organised by the non-profit organisation Jonk Entrepreneuren Luxembourg at the Chamber of Commerce.

10 finalist teams were chosen from a total of 21 companies from 13 secondary schools. During the final, the students presented their company, their apprenticeships and the challenges and successes of their business to a panel of judges. After the jury had deliberated, Mr Patrick Wies, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jonk Entrepreneuren Luxembourg, launched the prize-giving ceremony by encouraging the young people to be proud of everything they had achieved this year and urging them to continue developing their skills. The Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Mr Meisch, then congratulated not only the finalists, but above all all the pupils who had taken part in this year’s programme. In his speech, Mr Meisch said that it was through programmes of this kind that we can better prepare young people for their working lives with concrete skills and an insight into the day-to-day activities of a company.

Two prizes were awarded, namely Best Day-to-Day Management 2023 (taking into account criteria assessed throughout the school year) and Best Practice Enterprise 2023 (taking into account the results of Best Day-to-Day Management, the EE Fair in December, a social media challenge and presentations at the final).

The concept of the Practice Enterrise (L’Entreprise d’Entraînement – EE) has been around since the 1950s and has been implemented in many countries across a range of sectors (education, vocational training, vocational rehabilitation, etc.). In Luxembourg, the concept was introduced into the school curriculum as a compulsory course in 2006. Since then, the Practice Enterprise programme has been a course taught in the general secondary education – vocational training system – administrative and commercial division.