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UNIVERSITY-LEVEL ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION – BALANCING OF ACADEMIC RIGOR AND RELEVANCE WITH THE REALITIES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Veikko Seppänen, Irina Atkova, Anne Keränen, Pauliina Ulkuniemi, Petri Ahokangas Oulu Business School, University of Oulu firstname.lastname(at) oulu.fi

The entrepreneurial mystique? It’s not magic, it’s not mysterious, and it has nothing to do with the genes. It’s a discipline. And, like any discipline, it can be learned”. Peter Drucker, 1985

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Entrepreneurship education at higher education institutions

‒ Entrepreneurship education has become an important topic in higher education institutions (HEIs) globally, but there are many approaches to it

• Length, comprehensiveness in terms of the breadth of curricular and extra-curricular activities,

inter-disciplinary view over different faculties, anchoring to management, actual student demand, co-operation with external stakeholders.

‒ Scientific rigor, entrepreneurial relevance and entrepreneurial realities

• Business and economic sciences – foundations of entrepreneurship vs.
• Technical disciplines – commercialization of innovations vs.
• A wider perspective – entrepreneurs and enterprises as seen e.g. through education, sociology

and humanities.

‒ Connections with regional, joint domestic and global agendas and networks. ‒ Particular entrepreneurship enabling environments and infrastructures. ‒ Entrepreneurs’ and enterprises’ support to universities through funding, alumni activities, mentoring, teachers of practice, etc. ‒ Employability of students, learning by hands-on doing, boosting university start-ups.

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Starting point and needs

‒ A rather long but scattered history of related educational activities at UofO. ‒ According to Harvio (2007) there were some concerns regarding the interest of students and connections to businesses domains in the Oulu area, what comes to entrepreneurship education in HEIs

• Becoming an employee, an self-employed professional or an entrepreneur?
• Rather weak links to industrial domains and business realities in entrepreneurship education?
• Blended learning vs. classroom teaching?
• No reservations regarding entrepreneurship seen as too much profit-oriented and conflicting with

the neutrality and independence of science, compared e.g. to Volkmann and Bischoff (2015)

• In contrast with the high-technology profile emerged in the Oulu region and based on many

competence creation and educational activities (cf. Simonen et al. 2016), no special goals and criteria were found to be set for entrepreneurship education except it being “useful” and supporting “sales, internationalization, exports” and “growth”.

• What to do (next)?

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Yrittäjyyskoulutus A72801 Orientoituminen yrittäjyyteen, 3 ov Ajoitus: Syys- ja kevätlukukausi. Asema: Vapaavalintainen aineopinto kaikissa

• koulutusohjelmissa. Suoritustapa: Luennot, yritysesimerkit, yhteistyösidosryhmien esitelmät. Opintopäiväkirja, aktiivinen osallistuminen

luennoille sekä seminaarityöskentely. Kurssi voidaan suorittaa vaihtoehtoisesti monimuoto-opetuksena. Tavoitteet: Antaa perustiedot sisäisestä ja ulkoisesta yrittäjyydestä ja luoda perusvalmius yrittäjyyden ymmärtämiselle laajemmassa merkityksessä. Sisältö: Yrittämiseen liittyvien henkisten ominaisuuksien läpikäynti ja tutustuminen erityyppisiin yritysjohtajiin ja johtoryhmiin, osallistuminen ja tutustuminen yrityksen erilaisten päätösprosessien vaiheisiin. Läpikäydään kokonaisvaltaisen liiketoiminnan suhteet ja niiden kehittäminen, liikeidea, yrityksen perustamiseen liittyvät näkökohdat, toiminnan suunnittelu ja liiketoiminnan käynnistäminen, perustamis- ja käynnistämistoimet ja tutustuminen yritysten eri tehtäviin. Vastuuhenkilö: Lehtori Markku Pulkkinen. Kirjallisuus: Ilmoitetaan luennoilla. A72802 Liiketoimintavalmiuksien kehittäminen (Soveltavat opinnot), 9 ov Ajoitus: Syys- ja kevätlukukausi. Asema: Vapaavalintainen aineopinto kaikissa koulutusohjelmissa. Suoritustapa: Luennot, harjoitukset, yritysesimerkit. Liiketoimintasuunnitelma. Tavoitteet: Antaa

• piskelijalle yrittäjyyteen liittyvät perusvalmiudet liiketoiminnan eri osa-alueilla. Sisältö: Yritystoiminnan osa-alueet: strategia, ympäristö,

markkinat, asiakkaat, tuote, teknologiat, talous, organisaatio, kokonaisliiketoiminnan hallinta. Vastuuhenkilö: Lehtori Markku Pulkkinen. Edellyttää: Ennen tätä opintojaksoa on suoritettava kurssi A72801. Kirjallisuus: Ilmoitetaan luennoilla. A72803 Yrittäjyyden erikoistyö (Erikoistumisopinnot), 3 ov Ajoitus: Syys- ja kevätlukukausi. Asema: Vapaavalintainen aineopinto kaikissa

• koulutusohjelmissa. Suoritustapa: 3 ov:n laajuinen tutkielma-/harjoitustyö. Tavoitteet: Antaa opiskelijalle mahdollisuus perehtyä johonkin

yksittäiseen yrittämisen erikoisalueeseen. Sisältö: Yrittäjyyden erikoistyössä opiskelija perehtyy johonkin pienyrityksessä esiintyvään liiketoiminnalliseen ongelmaan ja etsii ko. ongelmaan mahdollisia ratkaisuehdotuksia tai vaihtoehtoisesti perehtyy valitsemansa pienyrityksen menestystekijöihin. Vastuuhenkilö: Lehtori Markku Pulkkinen. Edellyttää: Ennen tätä opintojaksoa on suoritettava kurssit A72801 ja A72802. A72805 Liiketoimintaseminaari, 2-5 ov Ajoitus: Vapaa. Suoritustapa: Esimerkiksi luentoja, kirjallisuutta, case-tapauksia tai harjoitustyö. Luento ja aihe on vaihteleva. Jaksoksi tai sen osaksi voidaan hyväksyä myös muussa koti- tai ulkomaisessa korkeakoulussa tai yliopistossa suoritettuja opintojaksoja. Kurssin laajuus voi vaihdella 2 - 5 ov. Vastuuhenkilö: Lehtori Markku Pulkkinen.

Back in late nineties …

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Development of the new study package

‒ 2008 … 2010 … 2012 – a radical change of the mobile city Oulu unfolding

• OIA, Business Kitchen, Labs and Terwa-Akatemia, Demola – a very strong focus on the realities of

start-up businesses, compared to corporate-orchestrated ecosystem(s).

‒ Pilot study package: ” Working life and entrepreneurship skills” by Topik of UofO

• Working Life and Studies, Toward Entrepreneurial Mindsets, Building Business through Creativity and

Collaboration, Turning Opportunities to Business, Entrepreneurial Field Project (alias Demola)

• The package was not financially self-sustainable, no co-ordination of study credits across disciplines.

‒ Team-based study package development:

• Educational responsibility moved to the Business School from Topik, evaluation of needs in

faculties, a desk study of related offerings (in Finland), links to the Babson College, re-planning

• f the entire study package: Entrepreneuring for tomorrow , Building change through

entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship in action, Introduction to business development, Entrepreneurial assignment, Building Business through Creativity and Collaboration

• A somewhat (50/60) practice-driven approach, wrt. e.g. to Volkmann and Bischoff (2015)
• “Upon completion of the entrepreneurship minor, the students form their own entrepreneurial

experience in the context of responsible business: Students understand entrepreneurship as a broad phenomenon and are able to apply entrepreneurial knowledge and skills in practice; Students act responsibly and ethically in their roles as entrepreneurs.”

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Discussion and future outlook

‒ Starting from a practically oriented content and pedagogy, later on building upon a more academic review of other universities’ educational contents, with an aim to balance between rigor, relevance and entrepreneurial realities. ‒ Changes in the external environment and the resulting non-curricular entrepreneurship development actions were a strong driver for the (re-) developments. They were initiated very locally, but then reached out. ‒ Integration of Business Kitchen and Demola activities supported connections with the industry and emerging business domains (cf. Harvio, 2007). ‒ “Introduction to business development” covers the basics of entrepreneurship. ‒ No strong university-level control or pre-determined strategy as a backup – yet. ‒ Experience gathering to be carried among the students and faculties. ‒ An outlook to contemporary achievements in entrepreneurship research made available. ‒ Participation in the Babson College collaborative to maintain a global yardstick. ‒ Extending the entrepreneurship education tray.

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References

Drucker, P.F. (1985). Innovation and entrepreneurship. New York: Harper & Row. Fayolle, A., Gailly, B., & Lassas-Clerc, N. (2006). Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education programmes: a new methodology. Journal of European Industrial Training, 30(9), 701-720. Harvio, S. (2007). Yritysten ja yrittäjyyden tukeminen Oulun yliopiston ja Oulun seudun ammattikorkeakoulun koulutuksella, tutkimuksella ja laiteinfrastruktuurilla. Oulu Innovation Oy. 68 p. (in Finnish) Katz, J.A. (2003). The chronology and intellectual trajectory of American entrepreneurship education 1876-1999. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 293-300. Kirby, D. A. (2004). Entrepreneurship education: can business schools meet the challenge? Education+ Training, 46(8/9), 510-519. Kuckertz, A. (2013). Entrepreneurship education: status quo and prospective developments. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 16, 59-71. Kuratko, D. F. (2005). The emergence of entrepreneurship education: Development, trends, and challenges. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(5), 577-598. Laukkanen, M. (2000). Exploring alternative approaches in high-level entrepreneurship education: creating micromechanisms for endogenous regional

• growth. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 12(1), 25-47.

Lilischkis, S., Volkmann, C., Gruenhagen, M., Bischoff K., & Halbfas, B. (2015). Supporting the Entrepreneurial Potential of Higher Education. Final report. European Commission, Education and Culture.76 p. Simonen, J., Koivumäki, T., Seppänen, V., Sohlo, S., & Svento, R. (2016). What happened to the growth? – The case of the ICT industry in Oulu, Finland. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 29(2), 287-308. Solomon, G.T., 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), 65-86. Streeter, D., & Jaquette, J. (2004). University-wide entrepreneurship education: alternative models and current trends. Southern Rural Sociology, 20(2), 44-71. Wilson, K. E., Vyakarnam, S., Volkmann, C., Mariotti, S., & Rabuzzi, D. (2009). Educating the next wave of entrepreneurs: Unlocking entrepreneurial capabilities to meet the global challenges of the 21st century. In World Economic Forum: A Report of the Global Education Initiative. Winkel, D., Vanevenhoven, J., Drago, W. A., & Clements, C. (2013). The structure and scope of entrepreneurship programs in higher education around the world. Journal

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Volkmann, C. K., & Bischoff, K. (2015). Entrepreneurship Education in Europe: Findings and Conclusions from Case Studies of 20 Universities. From higher education to entrepreneurship seminar. Helsinki, October 6th, 2015. 37 p. Von Graevenitz, G., Harhoff, D., & Weber, R. (2010). The effects of entrepreneurship education. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 76(1), 90-112.