Asad Malik
(S153F0008)
Entrepreneurship education in universities
The latest decades have seen a tremendous rise in entrepreneurship education at universities around the globe. The foremost pedagogical tool in many entrepreneurship programs seems to be having students learn how to write a business plan (Hills, 1988; Johannisson et al., 1998). A new study examines three new, comparatively small, but very ambitious entrepreneurship programs. All of the three programs try to increase students’ awareness of entrepreneurship as a career possibility, but also include various practical training modules. Specifically, all three programs include training session in acting and thinking creatively, using a problem-based learning approach where students develop new and creative solutions to business ideas and eventually, in some cases, actually start new ventures during the educational program.
Role of education on entrepreneurial intentions Entrepreneurial intention has been described as “a conscious state of mind that directs attention toward a specific goal to achieve it” (Bird, 1989, p. 8). Researchers typically trace entrepreneurial intentions to three general factors (Krueger et al., 2000). First, intentions are triggered by a person’s attitude towards the behaviour. This is seen as the weighted sum of perceived consequences and the likelihood of different outcomes of the behaviour, including intrinsic rewards. The second factor is perceived social norms. This means that the beliefs of relevant groups and actors, such as family, friends, colleagues and customers, will affect the intentions of the entrepreneur. The third factor is that a person’s self-efficacy will influence intentions. Self-efficacy has been found to greatly influence entrepreneurial behaviour, and improving the perceived feasibility of certain courses of action is therefore seen as vital to