Discuss a cohort

For US entrepreneurship faculty

Study Abroad Entrepreneurship course · Lisbon · July 19 – August 6, 2027

Your students won’t study startups. They’ll build one.

15 days in Lisbon. 6 ECTS, about 3 US credit hours. You lead the academics.

Discuss a faculty-led cohort Calculate your ROI

Co-organized with UC Berkeley

The rooftops of Lisbon, where the course runs. Lisbon, Portugal 6 ECTS ≈ 3 credits
  • 6ECTS — about 3 US semester credit hours
  • 15days, 8–10 hours a day
  • 400students per cohort, 65+ nationalities
  • 50+mentors from Google, Amazon, Microsoft
  • €100Kacross three investment awards

Faculty are already doing this

Your peers already bring students. Yours can be next.

Faculty and programs at these US universities have taken students to EIA — from an official summer study abroad program to a STEM path to the MBA.

Faculty from Virginia Commonwealth University, Washington University in St. Louis, Iona, Grand Valley State, SUNY Cortland, Shippensburg and Western Washington have worked with EIA too — alongside leading European universities, including the University of Lisbon, City St George’s, University of London, and Sapienza University of Rome. Your students build in mixed teams with theirs.

Add your university Or ask for the faculty reference list — we introduce you to a lead who has already run it.

What US faculty say about it

It mimics the exact process an actual entrepreneur would go through.
Ken SingerUC Berkeley
My students came home able to defend every decision they made. You can’t manufacture that in a classroom.
Dr. Harold WrightUniversity of Alabama
Real customers and a real deadline taught them judgment no case study can reach.
Dr. Maher HakimCarnegie Mellon University
$10K

Your AI Entrepreneurship Grant

Bring 20 students. Yours for AI tooling, stipends, or research time.

See $10K grant in calculator

An academic course taught the way founders learn

Students don’t read about entrepreneurship. They emulate it — forming a founding team, taking one venture from idea to tested product, and pitching it. Assessed, graded and credit-bearing throughout.

Build

Learning by doing

Teams take one venture from raw idea to a tested product with real users. Around 80 student ventures come out of a single Lisbon cohort.

Learn

Mentored by operators

Daily mentoring from people who have shipped at Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Visa, alongside founders, VCs and pitch coaches.

Assess

Credit-bearing, not a field trip

Dated syllabus, contact hours, learning outcomes and rubrics. You grade your students; 6 ECTS on completion.

A speaker on stage in front of a large European Innovation Academy screen, addressing a full auditorium of students, with a row of national flags along the stage front.
Every intake runs at this scale: 400 students, 65+ nationalities, one room.
Students working in teams around tables with laptops, in a room filled with other student teams.
Build. Every table is a founding team, taking one venture from idea to tested product.
A participant with a microphone asks a question from a packed audience.
Learn. Sessions run as conversations — students question speakers from the floor.
Hundreds of students cheering as green balloons drop over a crowded hall.
Celebrate. Milestones are shared by the whole cohort, not a single classroom.

What alumni do next

  • 40% of alumni go on to become founders.
  • 64% startup survival rate among ventures started at EIA.
  • 44% credit EIA with a job, a promotion or a leadership move.
  • Alumni ventures have raised $2.2B and created 32,000+ jobs since 2012.

Your cohort inside a global one

Your students stay your cohort — you lead them, you grade them — while working in mixed teams with 400 students from 65+ countries. That mix is the part they cannot get on campus.

Talk through cohort design

Who teaches alongside you

EIA Faculty

Operators, founders and investors who mentor student teams every day of the course — people who have built products at Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Visa. You keep the grading; they bring the field experience.

Showing 8 of 51 mentors

Want faculty matched to your syllabus?

Tell us your course focus — AI, product, marketing, finance or pitching. On the fit call we introduce the mentors whose expertise maps to your learning outcomes, and can set up a conversation with them before you commit.

Request a faculty introduction

Shown: the current EIA Portugal mentor pool. The faculty line-up for the Lisbon 2027 intake is confirmed on a rolling basis.

Startups from EIA

The network your students join for 15 days, and stay in afterwards.

Alumni ventures have raised $2.2B and created more than 32,000 jobs since 2012.

Seen enough to start the conversation?

A 30-minute fit call on your students, your curriculum and your approval timeline — no deck, no obligation.

First-seat pricing holds until September 30, 2026.

Discuss a faculty-led cohort

United States

Built to clear a US approval process

The four things a US faculty lead checks before taking anything to a chair.

Credit your registrar can process

6 ECTS, which US institutions most often map to 3 semester credit hours. You get a dated syllabus, a contact-hour breakdown and the rubrics your curriculum committee asks for — the conversion itself stays your registrar’s call.

Fits the US summer session

On the ground July 19 to August 6, 2027, with the online pre-week from July 12. Students are home with weeks to spare before fall semester, and after most May–June summer sessions have finished.

No visa for a US passport

Portugal is in the Schengen area, where US passport holders may stay up to 90 days without a visa — a 15-day course sits well inside that. The ETIAS travel authorisation is expected to become operational from the last quarter of 2026 (European Commission); we confirm the requirement in force per cohort.

Quoted and invoiced in USD

Cohort agreements can be quoted, invoiced and paid in US dollars, on a purchase order if your procurement office needs one. The $10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant is paid in USD to your program.

You lead the cohort. We run the course.

The split we work to, so you can judge the preparation cost before committing.

EIA brings

  • The 15-day course: curriculum, venue, daily delivery and coordination in Lisbon.
  • 50+ mentors, speakers and VCs, with daily team-level mentoring.
  • Team formation across 65+ nationalities, run before the course starts.
  • The startup expo, investor pitch night and €100,000 in awards.
  • A faculty planning pack for your department, education abroad office and risk management.
  • The $10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant at 20 students.

You keep

  • Academic authority over standards, assessment and grading.
  • The decision on how the 6 ECTS map to your own credit hours — most US programs land on 3.
  • Your teaching role on the ground — as much or as little as you want it.
  • The relationship with your students and your institution’s duty of care.

For your curriculum committee

What you can put in front of a curriculum committee

Intensity sells the course to students. Evidence sells it to your chair, your registrar and your dean.

Credit hours and contact hours

  • Students earn 6 ECTS on completion. US institutions most commonly map 6 ECTS to 3 semester credit hours, at the 2:1 ratio used across the ECTS system.
  • 8–10 hours of structured contact a day across 15 days, plus the online pre-week.
  • The Lisbon course is co-organized with UC Berkeley.
  • Credit recognition and the transcript entry stay your institution’s decision. We supply the syllabus, contact hours and assessment evidence your curriculum committee and registrar need to make it.

Assessable learning outcomes

  1. Identify and test a venture opportunity, evidenced by a research plan, interview synthesis and evidence log.
  2. Evaluate a business model and state the assumptions it rests on.
  3. Design an experiment, interpret the result and justify the next decision.
  4. Communicate a venture proposition, with reflection on the Lisbon learning context.

Pitching is assessed as communication, not as venture success. Rubrics map to these outcomes and you sign off on grading.

The 15 days, week by week

What a student actually does — and what you can hold them to.

  1. Online pre-week · July 12–16, 2027

    Pitch an idea, find co-founders

    Students post their idea, meet the cohort online and form founding teams before anyone gets on a plane. Day one in Lisbon starts with a team.

  2. Week 1 · July 19–23, 2027

    Validate the customer, build the MVP

    Personas tested against real interviews, product scoped, UX drafted, and a working prototype in front of users by Friday.

  3. Week 2 · July 26–30, 2027

    Take it to market

    Go-to-market strategy, funnels and growth mechanics, then live campaigns with real budget and real numbers coming back.

  4. Week 3 · August 2–6, 2027

    Business model, then the pitch

    Revenue models, IP essentials and pitch craft — ending in front of investors, with three awards totaling €100,000 decided on the night.

Request syllabus & committee pack

The preview above is un-gated — read the contact hours, outcomes and assessment evidence before you give us a contact.

Course facts

Anything not yet approved for publication is marked. Ask and we confirm it in writing.

Terracotta rooftops of Lisbon's old town packed down a hillside beneath a white church dome, with the Tagus estuary beyond.
Lisbon, Portugal — where the 15 days happen.
Study Abroad Entrepreneurship course — Lisbon, summer 2027 intake.
Location Lisbon, Portugal
Dates July 19 – August 6, 2027, with an online pre-week July 12–16
Format 15 days on the ground, 8–10 hours a day
Credit 6 ECTS on completion
US credit equivalent Commonly mapped to 3 semester credit hours. Your registrar decides the transcript entry.
Cohort 400 students from 65+ nationalities
Who can attend University students from all majors
Entry for US passports No Schengen visa for stays under 90 days. ETIAS expected to be operational from Q4 2026 — requirement confirmed per cohort.
Awards Three investment awards totaling €100,000
Billing Cohort agreements quoted and invoiced in USD. Purchase orders supported — confirm with us before budgeting.
Faculty grant $10,000 personal scholar grant to the faculty lead at 20 students, paid in USD. Terms confirmed in writing before you commit.
Accessibility and support A written accessibility and support document is provided for each cohort. Raise specific requirements early.

Tuition per student

First seats

€1,699

about $1,835

Until September 30, 2026

Open now

Early bird

€1,999

about $2,159

Until December 31, 2026

Regular

€2,299

about $2,483

Until April 30, 2027

Final call

€2,499

about $2,699

Until June 15, 2027

Every tier includes the full 15-day course, the 6 ECTS entitlement, daily mentoring and mentor pool access. Dollar figures are indicative, converted at 1 EUR = 1.08 USD; a cohort agreement is quoted, invoiced and paid in USD at the rate agreed in writing, with inclusions, payment and cancellation terms stated.

Check tier availability

What a cohort returns to your program

Modeled on 12+ years of alumni outcomes. Course tuition is pre-filled — move the slider to your cohort size.

$10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant unlocked at 20 students.

Current Study Abroad Entrepreneurship course fee. Change it only if you have a quoted cohort rate.

15.3x
5-year return On a 20-student cohort. Includes the $10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant

20 students at $1,890 — a $37,800 cohort investment returning $577,000 of modeled five-year value.

Tuition revenue lift
$472,500
over 5 years
Enrollment increase
+21%
over 5 years
Ranking lift
+12 positions
employability factor
Media & brand value
$94,500
over 5 years
AI Entrepreneurship Grant
$10,000 to your program
Unlocked — a personal scholar grant to you as the faculty lead, at 20 or more students.
Discuss a 20-student cohort See what happens next
How this is calculated

Every coefficient is listed here so you can put it in front of a finance office rather than take it on trust.

  • Cohort investment is the course tuition per student multiplied by the number of students you bring.
  • Tuition revenue lift is modeled at 12.5× that investment over five years, driven by the enrollment effect below.
  • Media and brand value is modeled at 2.5× that investment over five years.
  • Enrollment increase is modeled at +21% and ranking lift at +12 positions on an employability factor. Both are held constant across cohort sizes.
  • The $10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant is added to returned value only when the cohort reaches 20 students.
  • Figures are in USD. The default $1,890 tuition tracks the current course fee; ask for a written quote before budgeting.
  • Projections are based on outcomes from 15,000+ EIA alumni since 2012. Individual results vary.

These are modeled projections for discussion, not a forecast or a guarantee of institutional outcome.

From first call to a confirmed cohort

  1. You leave a contact

    Name plus an email or a phone number. A named partnerships lead replies within one business day.

  2. Fit call

    30 minutes on your students, your curriculum and your approval timeline. No deck.

  3. Planning pack and quote

    Syllabus, delivery responsibilities, due diligence material, grant terms and a written quote.

  4. Internal review

    Your department, curriculum committee, education abroad office, risk management and procurement run their process. We answer their questions directly, including a W-9 or vendor onboarding packet.

  5. Agreement and confirmed cohort

    Terms signed, seats held, delivery contact assigned.

US academic calendar

Plan around the deadlines

  • Seat pricing steps up on September 30, 2026, December 31, 2026 and April 30, 2027.
  • US programs typically approve a summer course a full academic year out. For summer 2027 that means starting in fall 2026 — before you have approval, not after.
  • We will answer a due diligence questionnaire at any stage. Earlier is easier.
Start the conversation

US faculty inquiries

Discuss a cohort

Discussing a 20-student cohort — $10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant Unlocked

Leave your name and email. A partnerships lead gets back to you within one business day — everything else we work out on the call.

  • No obligation, no sales sequence.
  • We work to US business hours for calls — say which time zone you are in.
  • We never contact your students or colleagues without your say-so.
  • Ask for the syllabus, grant terms, W-9 or due diligence pack at any point.

Prefer email? Write to info@inacademy.eu.

Takes 15 seconds. We reply within one business day.

Questions faculty ask first

How does 6 ECTS convert to US credit hours?

Students earn 6 ECTS on completion. US institutions most commonly map that to 3 semester credit hours, using the 2:1 ratio applied across the ECTS system — but the conversion and the transcript entry are your registrar’s decision, not ours.

We provide the evidence that decision needs: a dated syllabus, contact and independent study hours, assessment rubrics and instructor credentials.

How does the $10,000 AI Entrepreneurship Grant work?

Bring 20 students and the grant is awarded to you personally as the faculty lead, as a scholar grant — for AI tooling, course development, student stipends or research time. Paid in USD. Terms are confirmed in writing before you commit anything internally.

Do I have to teach, or do I travel with them?

Both work. Some faculty leads teach sessions and mentor teams; others focus on their own students’ assessment and let the EIA mentor pool run delivery. Decide it at the planning stage and we build your role into the schedule.

Is 15 days really enough to learn this?

It is not enough to build a finished company, and it is enough to run the loop that matters: find a customer, build something, test it, and face an investor with the result. That loop is what the course assesses.

What does it cost, and what is included?

Tuition runs from €1,699 to €2,499 per student — roughly $1,835 to $2,699 — depending on when you book, and includes the full course, the 6 ECTS entitlement, daily mentoring and mentor pool access. Cohort agreements are quoted, invoiced and paid in USD, in writing, and can run on a purchase order.

Do our students need a visa, and who handles safety?

US passport holders do not need a Schengen visa for a stay under 90 days, so a 15-day course needs no visa application. ETIAS travel authorisation is expected to become operational from the last quarter of 2026; we confirm the requirement in force for your intake in writing.

Safety, insurance and support responsibilities are written down per cohort and shared with your education abroad office and risk management as part of due diligence. Ask for that document at the fit call rather than at the end.

Can we speak to a US university that has done this?

Yes. Faculty at the University of Alabama and Carnegie Mellon University have partnered with EIA for more than ten years. Ask at the fit call and we will introduce you.

I’m a student, not faculty. Can I attend?

Yes — individual places are open to university students from all majors. This page is for faculty planning a cohort, so ask your professor to get in touch, or write to info@inacademy.eu about an individual place.