Technical College Gheorghe Cartianu from Piatra Neamt ,N-E region , Romania is a big technological high-school with 1500

students and 102 teachers .

72% of the school students are living in rural areas, in the same time the industry of the region is very poor because of the economical recession ,agriculture and tourism are the base of the economy in the area.  A very big percentage of the region’s active population is occupied in agriculture.

The range of qualifications that can be obtained in the school is very wide and can be divided into five major areas:

computers and computer science, electronics and telecommunications, mechanical and metalworking, construction and

building design, textiles and leather, chemistry and environmental protection, food industry and services . In each one of

this areas they qualify students at level 2,3 or 4 ( VET school level or VET high-school level ). For the 5 level of qualification they have also qualification offer in the jobs Technician in Food Quality and Technician for Measurements in Constructions .

They also qualify adults for the qualifications : Technician in computer science , Worker for building crawling , Worker

for textile assembling ,Welder , Locksmith for metal structures and technological equipment.

The N-E region where the school is situated is one of the poorest regions of Romania . The region has” the highest level of poverty from all Romanian regions and from European Union ” source : http://www.adrnordest.ro/user/file/pdr/v3/strategie%20RNE%202014-2020%20aprilie%202013.pdf

The students are very often coming from poor families at risk of social exclusion. The industry in county is situated at a low level with catastrophic consequences in creating jobs .

As a general consequence of the industry decline the unemployment rate is very high and the graduates cannot find workplaces easily in the first years after graduation. The graduates unemployment rate was 16%  at the end of 2014.

Despite the demographic positive evolution, in the villages there are very few young workers because of the lack of working opportunities. Most of the youngsters are migrating to urban regions of Europe after school graduation.

Education and training offered by the school must be adjusted to the reality of the workforce-market and because of the lack of working offers in the area it is compulsory to train all the students in the field of entrepreneurship.

In a focus-group study that was have made among our students from terminal years  was discovered their need to be guided  not only in how to start entrepreneurial activities in our country but also in other European countries and in how to find the needed resources for their activities.

The region of high-school offer good opportunities of rural areas development by SME-s.

The hospitality services are well and continuously developed as a result of the fact that Neamt County has many possible opportunities to excel in tourism marketing as an economic development generator.

The natural environment of the region offers a wide diversity of attractions and very good opportunities for development of small businesses and social entrepreneurship with the condition of a good ecologic education provided to the  population living in the area.