Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education Institutions: Estonian Case
Main Article Content
Abstract
The European Union (EU) faces the daunting challenge of emerging from the crisis and putting economies back on a sustainable growth path – there is still need of innovative, well-educated, and entrepreneurial citizens who have the spirit and inquisitiveness to think in new ways, and the courage to meet and adapt to the challenges. Entrepreneurship education (EE) is much broader concept than entrepreneurship as a practice of trade; it includes the entrepreneurship key competence that refers to an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action. Educational institutions stress the need to offer opportunities to increase entrepreneurial skills development (Bird, 2002). EE in European higher education institutions (HEI) is experiencing a growth; but there are still weaknesses (Varblane & Mets, 2010; Kyro & Carrier, 2005): for example, teaching of entrepreneurship for non-business industries is not sufficiently integrated in HEI’s curricula; education provides little training in entrepreneurship. In the article authors map and analyse the situation of EE in Estonian HEIs. Authors use classification (as proposed in Twaalfhoven, Suen & Prats, 2001), which distinguished three types of approach to entrepreneurship programme development: a) the research-oriented model; b) the “consulting†model; c) the teaching/practice-oriented student development model. Authors use case-study approach and for data-collecting method interview is used. Findings: EE should be more experiential and interdisciplinary; entrepreneurship should be the third career choice for students and be part of curricula; the EE should be supported by ecosystem, teaching methods must change, etc. Also we have recommendations what are implemented in developing special program of EU structural foundations.
Â
Keywords: entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship education; Estonia; Higher education institutions;
ÂÂ
Downloads
Article Details
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
References
Ardalan, K. (2008). The philosophical foundation of the lecture-versus-case controversy: Its implications for course goals, objectives, and contents. International Journal of Social Economics, 35, 15ï€34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03068290810843819
Baptista, R., Lima, F. & Mendoca, J. (2011). Establishment of higher education institutions and new firm entry. Research Policy, 40, 751ï€760. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2011.02.006
Bird, B. (2002). Learning entrepreneurship competencies: The self-directed learning approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 1, 203ï€227.
Cotton, J. (1991). Enterprise education experience: A manual for school-based in-service training. Education + Training, 33(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400919110006685
Davey, T., Baaken, T., Galan Muros, V. & Meerman, A. (2011). The state of European universityâ€business cooperation. Part of the DG education and culture study on the cooperation between higher education institutions and public and private organisations in Europe. Munster: University of Applied Sciences, Scienceâ€toâ€Business Marketing Research Centre.
Entrepreneurship education at school in Europe: National strategies, curricula and learning outcomes. (2012). Brussels: European Commission.
Fenton, M. & Barry, A. (2014). Breathing space – Graduate entrepreneurs’ perspectives of entrepreneurship education in higher education. Education + Training, 56(8/9), 733ï€744. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/ET-05-2014-0051
Final report of the expert group entrepreneurship in higher education, especially within non-business studies. (2008). Brussels: European Commission.
Flemming, P. (1996). Entrepreneurship education in Ireland: A longitudinal study. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal (European Edition), 2(1), 95ï€119.
Gibb, A. (2011). Concepts into practice: Meeting the challenge of development of entrepreneurship educators around an innovative paradigm: The case of the International Entrepreneurship Educators’ Programme (IEEP). International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 17, 146ï€165. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13552551111114914
Gibb, A. (1999). Can we build effective entrepreneurship through, management development? Journal of General Management, 24(4), 1ï€21.
Gibb, A. (1987). Enterprise culture - its meaning and implications for education and training. Journal of European Industrial Training, 11, 2ï€38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb043365
Hannon, P. (2006). Teaching pigeons to dance: Sense and meaning in entrepreneurship education. Education + Training, 48(5), 296ï€308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400910610677018
Hyrsky, K. & Kyro, P. (2005). Women entrepreneurship programme breaks government’s gender neutrality. Esitys Nordic Conference on Adult Education – Liberty, Fraternity, Equality-Konferenssissa. Turun yliopisto.
Hytti, U. & O’Gorman, C. (2004). What is enterprise education? An analysis of the objectives and methods of enterprise education programmes in four European countries. Education + Training, 46(1), 11ï€23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400910410518188
Jones, B. & Iredale, N. (2010). Enterprise education as pedagogy. Education + Training, 52(1), 7ï€19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400911011017654
Kirby, D. (2004). Entrepreneurship education: Can business schools meet the challenge? Education + Training, 46(8/9), 510ï€519. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400910410569632
Klapper, R. (2004). Government goals and entrepreneurship education: An investigation at a grand ecole in France. Education + Training, 46(3), 127ï€137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400910410531787
Kyro, P. (2008). A theoretical framework for teaching and learning entrepreneurship. International Journal of Business and Globalisation, 2(1), 39ï€55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJBG.2008.016133
Kyro, P. & Carrier, C. (Eds.). (2005). The dynamics of learning entrepreneurship in a cross-cultural university context. Hämeenlinna: University of Tampere.
Loudon, M. & Smither, J. (1999). Empowered self-development and continuous learning. Human Resource Management, 38(1), 3ï€15. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-050X(199921)38:1<3::AID-HRM2>3.0.CO;2-M
Lundstrom, A. & Stevenson, L. (2001). Patterns and trends in entrepreneurship: SME policy and practice in ten economies. Orebro: Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research.
Mahieu, R. (2006). Agents of change and policies of scale: A policy study of entrepreneurship and enterprise in education. Svenska och samhällsvetenskapliga ämnen.
Mwasalwiba, E. S. (2010). Entrepreneurship education: A review of its objectives, teaching methods, and impact indicators. Education + Training, 52, 20ï€47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400911011017663
Ollila, S. & Williams-Middleton, K. (2011). The venture creation approach: Integrating entrepreneurial education and incubation at the university. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 13(2), 161ï€178. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJEIM.2011.038857
Omerzel, D. G. & Antoncic, B. (2008). Critical entrepreneur knowledge dimensions for the SME performance. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 108(9), 1182ï€1199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02635570810914883
Pramann Salu, M. (2005). Ettevõtluse alused. Tallinn: Ilo (in Estonian).
Rae, D. (2004). Entrepreneurial learning: A practical model from the creative industries. Education + Training, 46(8/9), 492ï€500. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00400910410569614
Solomon, G., Duffy, S. & Tarabishy, A. (2002). The state of entrepreneurship education in the United States: A nationwide survey and analysis. International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 1(1), 65ï€86.
Twaalfhoven, B. Suen, W. W. & Prats, J. (2001). Developing entrepreneurship programmes in MBA schools: A contrast in approaches. Survey of 7 business schools. European Foundation for Entrepreneurship Research.
Varblane, U. & Mets, T. (2010). Entrepreneurship education in the Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) of post-communist European countries. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 4(3), 204ï€219. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17506201011068219