Instructional Elements Assessments of Entrepreneurship Education in a Technical University in Malaysia

Abstract

The technical and vocational education and training (TVET) program occupies the national education system to allow the students to learn practical, hands-on skills aligned with the industries' needs, ultimately preparing the students for the inexorable integration of technology brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0). The rapid pace of change and broad impacts featuring IR 4.0 demand specific critical thinking skills, creativity, and readiness for risks, the qualities that are connected to entrepreneurship. Thus, it clarifies offering entrepreneurship education (EE) alongside a TVET program. There are arguments that EE is poorly embedded into the TVET program in Malaysia. The instructional elements concerned with the content, techniques, and activities through which students engage in creating entrepreneurial knowledge and value are considered essential for EE's success in a TVET program. This study assesses the state of instructional elements (i.e. content, teaching methods, infrastructure facilities, and learning assessments) of EE offered within a TVET program in Malaysia. Data were obtained from 37 students of a private technical university in Malaysia who enrolled for their entrepreneurship course through a series of group interviews. The study enlightens a few meaningful findings to propagate the entrepreneurial culture within a TVET program: (1) the content should be tailored to the readiness of the students, (2) action-based teaching methods should be engaged, (3) prior entrepreneurship experience should be specified for the entrepreneurship lecturer; (4) presence of ideal infrastructure facilities, and (5) learning assessments must be focusing in developing attributes of entrepreneurs.