Strategic choices in the design of entrepreneurship education: an explorative study of Swedish higher education institutions

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proposes a taxonomy of entrepreneurship education, with the aim of enhancing our understanding of how higher education contributes to society. Entrepreneurship education programs have become a prominent feature in the curricula of many universities and business schools. Often it is developed in parallel with national policy, as described for our empirical context of Sweden. We identify four types using broad principles in terms of four different key variables described within. To identify our proposed types, we perform a cluster analysis of all 37 universities with entrepreneurship educations in one country. Previous literature provides mixed evidence about entrepreneurship programs’ effect on the likelihood of alumni starting a business afterwards. Our contribution is to specify this taxonomy through broad principles, leading to interesting questions about the competing goals between theory and practice in learning outcomes. We conclude with suggested directions for future research and implications for higher education policy.