Assessing Social Entrepreneurship Competencies in Higher Education

Abstract

The advancement of social entrepreneurship in higher education has achieved recognition as a subject matter and field of research. However, research addressing the developmental processes of social entrepreneurship competencies in higher education remains scarce. A fourteen competencies instrument was designed, validated, and applied to two groups of students from a higher education institution in Colombia to explore this research thread. By comparing the competencies between groups, the effectiveness of the courses in promoting entrepreneurship competencies is estimated. The data for the two groups were tested for significant differences using an ANOVA (p = 0.05). The results show that academic instruction alone is insufficient to foster the abilities and skills necessary for viable social enterprise projects. The results suggest higher education institutions integrate competencies development programs and conduct periodic skills assessments to continually improve the curriculum for advancing social entrepreneurship competencies.