Promoting Entrepreneurship Education Research Articles

Capacity building to advance entrepreneurship education

PurposeThe Teen Entrepreneurship Competition (TEC) was an annual inter‐school competition that aimed to promote entrepreneurship education (EE) in Hong Kong (HK) secondary schools. This paper aims to: review and evaluate the implementation of the TEC over the years from 2003‐2010, and use the TEC as a case to demonstrate how EE can be advanced through capacity building in various ways and levels.Design/methodology/approachThere were two key milestone phases for the TEC. This paper will describe and discuss the achievements made in Phase I and the capacity building for advancing the TEC in Phase II in details. Then, a critical analysis of capacity building for advancing TEC in Phase II will be made with a careful consideration of the TEC's design rationales, the research findings in Phase I and the three inter‐related levels of capacity building. Finally, suggestions will be recommended for further strengthening EE in schools.FindingsThe sustainability and advancement of the TEC are closely related to: advancing “Character Building” at the individual level, advancing “Partnership Building” at the institutional level, and advancing “Social Responsibility” at the societal level. However, the TEC might still overlook an alignment with the existing curriculum development. A further capacity building of course development and policy making should be sought.Originality/valuesThis is a precious illustrative case study for the purpose of sharing useful information and genuine experience with those who are interested in promoting teen EE in schools.

Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation in China: Enhancing Research and Transforming University Curriculum

In the last three decades or so, China has managed to become the second largest economy in the world, especially after engaging in economic reforms since the late 1970s. Despite being a “world factory” and playing a very significant role in manufacturing products and exporting to different parts of the globe, the Chinese government has realized that depending upon this production mode cannot sustain the country’s long term economic growth and development. Hence, the Chinese government has tried to invest more in advancing technology, research and innovation, knowledge transfer, and promoting entrepreneurship education. This article sets out to critically examine the major strategies and policies that the Chinese government has adopted in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation against the wider policies outlined above, with a focused reflection given to the major challenges facing Chinese universities during the process of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, and entrepreneurship education.

Analysis of national policies for entrepreneurship education in China

This article reviews major national policies and strategies adopted by the Chinese central government to promote entrepreneurship education and also describes the current social and economic background to reveal the motives of entrepreneurship education in mainland China. The core of this article sums up the content of national policies on entrepreneurship education and analyses the initial successes and problems in implementing these policies. Some suggestions for entrepreneurship education in mainland China are proposed in this article.

A Review of Entrepreneurship Education for College Students in China

Partly as a result of the rapid growth in Chinese higher education, graduate placement has become a critical issue facing colleges and universties. In response, one of the policy initiatives adopted by the Chinese government is for higher education institutions to put an emphasis on entrepreneurship education. In 2002, the Ministry of Education launched a pilot program on carrying out entrepreneurship education in nine prestigious higher education institutions in China. Since then, many colleges and universities have adopted this innovation in education. This study attempts to examine entrepreneurship education as an innovative solution to the challenges facing higher education in China. It first introduces the background for promoting entrepreneurship education in China, analyzes the entrepreneurship education programs and activities in three selected universities, assesses the state of entrepreneurship education both from a student perspective and also through a comparison with developments in the United States, and concludes with recommendations for further developments in entrepreneurship education in China’s colleges and universities.

Innovation and entrepreneurship in engineering education at MUSE

Traditionally, business schools are known to promote entrepreneurship education in their undergraduate and graduate programs. To meet the challenges due to advances in technology in the twenty-first century and entrepreneurial competition from developing nations, such as India and China, entrepreneurship programs in engineering education are being developed through grants from public and private foundations in order to promote entrepreneurial mindsets among all graduating engineers. This article highlights one such entrepreneurship engineering education program established at the Mercer University School of Engineering (MUSE) through Kern family foundation grants in 2007. What is currently being done at MUSE in promoting entrepreneurial mindsets among undergraduate and graduate students is highlighted and presented in terms of curriculum development, entrepreneurship clubs for engineering students, and entrepreneurial design projects with innovation and creativity components? This article presents the entrepreneurship engineering education curriculum in place at MUSE and a typical senior design project ‘Retrofitting of Tabletop CNC Lathe’ undertaken by senior engineering students through this program. The results obtained from this senior design project, the difficulties encountered by the student team, and the successful completion of the project are highlighted and discussed.

Entrepreneurship Education at the Crossroad in Hong Kong

While Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading financial and business centres in the Asia-Pacific region, a recent survey conducted noted that only 3 out of every 100 people in Hong Kong had started their own business in the previous 42 months. As entrepreneurs are so important to our economy, schools should be responsible for cultivating in students a suitable entrepreneurial spirit and skills. Unfortunately,. entrepreneurial training in secondary school does little to pave the way for students to pursue their future career planning and is unable to match the future needs of society. With the recent introduction of the New Secondary School Curriculum (NSSC), this article questions if entrepreneurship education could be taught through the introduction of a new course: Business, Accounting, and Financial Studies (BAFS). This research was conducted, through the eyes of business subject panel chairs, to determine a) the importance of entrepreneurship education and b) whether the new BAFS initiative can fulfil the role of promoting entrepreneurship education in Hong Kong.

Promoting entrepreneurship education: the role of the teacher?

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to show how entrepreneurship education focuses on the teacher's learning and reflection and how, according to the data, undeveloped reflections impede the development of entrepreneurship education.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through content typing in 2008 from 29 teachers at the basic, upper secondary and vocational educational levels. The focus is on self‐reflection – how and what teachers reflect on when writing about entrepreneurship education.FindingsThe teachers stress the need for coordination between subjects in developing a more entrepreneurially oriented working community. There appears to be confusion between aims and practices in entrepreneurship education: when asked to give the aims, the teachers describe the practices. Moreover, they “outsource” themselves but refer to aims from the pupils' perspective.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only presents preliminary data from the project.Practical implications/implicationsThe development of teacher learning in terms of reflection, which should be developed in their basic and in‐service training; the implementation of changes in the educational arena, such as curriculum reform, from the perspective of learning and reflection; and the connection between aims and results in the context of entrepreneurship education.Originality/valueThe approach taken to teacher learning and reflection in the context of entrepreneurship education has so far been an unexplored field of research. Moreover, our article highlights the crucial factor, the development of the teacher's learning, in the context of entrepreneurship education which, according to our results, has received far too little attention in the discourse on entrepreneuship education, and thus also in the strengthening of entrepreneurship. Our article introduces new trends for international research on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, in which increasing attention should be paid to the learning processes of teachers and instructors.

A quantitative analysis of the characteristics of rapid‐growth firms and their entrepreneurs in China

PurposeThis study aims to compare rapid‐growth companies with slow‐growth ones in order to provide fresh insights into the attributes of Chinese rapid‐growth companies through an integrated research framework, which was adapted from the framework proposed by Wiklund and by Barringer.Design/methodology/approachTo obtain data for analysis, the research selected the top 30 rapid‐growth firms and the bottom 30 slow‐growth firms from a data bank which contains complete financial data of 533 firms from 2001 to 2003. All data concerning rapid‐growth were coded either one or zero, and were analyzed by Fisher's Exact Test to find out the frequency of important growth variables.FindingsIt is found that the major differences between rapid‐growth and slow‐growth firms lie in different favorite firm resources and capacities, task environment, and entrepreneurial strategies. They can create greater value for success with certain entrepreneurs, and might spur those entrepreneurs to push their firms onto a rapid growth road. In addition, the variable of creating unique value emerges as a strong predictor of rapid growth. Entrepreneur orientation strategy is not found to be significantly facilitating rapid growth. This illustrates that all growth companies value highly entrepreneurship‐oriented strategy.Practical implicationsThese research findings confirm that growth is not a random event and that entrepreneurs are not necessarily natural. These research findings will promote entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship in China.Originality/valueThere are two originalities in this research. First, the authors developed a new integrated framework based on previous research achievements. Second, it is the first empirical study concerning company growth variables in China.

Promoting entrepreneurial mindsets at universities: a case study in the South of Spain

This study analyses an entrepreneurial learning initiative developed in the south of Spain through a partnership approach between a high-level educational institution - the University of Huelva, located in a rural area of the south of Spain - and the business community. Using a case-study approach and taking the institutional economic theory as a theoretical framework, the influence of the initiative on stimulating the students' entrepreneurial mindsets is examined. The main findings reveal that, in areas with low levels of entrepreneurial activity such as some rural areas of the south of Spain, additional actions to promote entrepreneurship would be necessary. This research also has several practical implications for policy makers in terms of designing governmental initiatives to promote entrepreneurship education and, consequently, entrepreneurial mindsets.

Entrepreneurship education within the enterprise culture

The enterprise culture is founded on the premise that entrepreneurship is the engine that drives the economy. One aspect of this cultural pervasion is the increase in the numbers of educational institutions teaching entrepreneurship courses. Yet this hegemony of the encouragement of new business start‐up, almost for its own sake, needs to be critically reviewed. One aspect is the enigmatic nature of entrepreneurship itself; what is it, and can it be taught? Another aspect is the very different expectations of those stakeholders promoting entrepreneurship education. Argues that the process of entrepreneurship involves both art and science; consequently our students need more than SME management skills. Graduating enterprise students must be innovative and creative to satisfy the need for entrepreneurial novelty ‐ the art. Yet, paradoxically they also need to be competent and multifunctional managers ‐ the science. Explores both these areas to argue that theory can bridge the art and science. The final section explains briefly how the recent research and practice at Aberdeen University attempts this synthesis. The intended outcome of our educational process are reflective practitioners, fit for an entrepreneurial career.