Abstract
In its fifth report, South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), published on 31 March 2020, called for institutions to carefully investigate undergraduate business education (curricula) after the business, economics, and management studies (in the Classification of Educational Subject Matter (CESM)) category presented the highest dropouts and lowest throughput rates. To understand the academic journey of entrepreneurship students, this study reviewed the literature through the lens of the General Systems Theory (GST), together with Tuckman’s (1999) Tripartite Model of Motivation for Achievement (TMMA). Accordingly, this study viewed the journey of students as a dynamic system with the students having some characteristics and motivations (inputs) when entering higher education, and what the higher education institutions should do (processes) to achieve improved academic performance (output) of students. From the literature reviewed, this study suggests the need to profile students based on their pre-enrolment information and capturing the perceptions of what they think influenced their academic performance in high school. Apart from this, the need to understand the entrepreneurial profile of students has been suggested considering the importance of entrepreneurship in employment creation, especially in South Africa, with an unemployment rate of 32.6%. Thus, it is necessary to produce graduates with the much-needed entrepreneurial capabilities in the South African economy.
Highlights
High academic failure rates are commonplace in tertiary institutions in both South Africa and other countries (Schmelzer, Schmelzer, Figler, & Brozo, 1987; Killen, 1994; Campbell & Dickson, 1996; Ditcher & Tetley, 1999; Fraser & Killen, 2003; Karimi, 2009; Harding, 2012; Aturupane, Glewwe, & Wisniewski, 2013; Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), 2020)
The lowest performance in the DHET report refers to the highest dropout rates and lowest throughput rates; calls by the DHET to look at the models underlying undergraduate business education and explore ways of improving student success
Considering the dwindling economy of South Africa evidenced by high unemployment of 32.6% (Stats SA, 2021), research has shown that entrepreneurship will eventually become the panacea for improvement in the economy (Muogbo & Uchechukwu, 2019), necessitating entrepreneurship education (Aduku, Nafiu & Yakubu, 2016)
Summary
High academic failure rates are commonplace in tertiary institutions in both South Africa and other countries (Schmelzer, Schmelzer, Figler, & Brozo, 1987; Killen, 1994; Campbell & Dickson, 1996; Ditcher & Tetley, 1999; Fraser & Killen, 2003; Karimi, 2009; Harding, 2012; Aturupane, Glewwe, & Wisniewski, 2013; DHET, 2020). With access to tertiary education improved, learners pursue admission into well-known programmes in the science disciplines with the hope of securing employment (Isaacs, Visser, Friedrich, & Brijlal, 2007; Kroon & Meyer, 2001). This leaves other lesser-known disciplines such as entrepreneurship vulnerable to those students who may not have done well in primary and secondary education. Shane and Venkataraman (2000) note the enormous role played by entrepreneurship, such as increased economic efficiency and job creation This has led to a rise in entrepreneurship research in the past few decades (Zhang, Duysters & Cloodt, 2014). Increased access has brought challenges to institutions by accommodating various needs for such people, including preparatory courses
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