The Socially Constructed Nature of Entrepreneurship Education: The Case of Higher Education in Croatia (original) (raw)
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Proceedings of INTCESS 2022- 9th International Conference on Education & Education of Social Sciences, 2022
The aim of this paper is to examine how students in Croatia construct the concept of entrepreneur and what is the role of entrepreneurship education in creating students' perceptions. The paradigmatic framework of the research is social constructivism, and in the methodological sense the study is based on a qualitative methodology. Primary data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 25 students from different faculties in the Republic of Croatia. Research findings show that our students perceive a typical entrepreneur as a person with excellent communication and listening skills, who is also very proactive, flexible and people-oriented, and has a strong desire to achieve and dedication to work. Students with less strong entrepreneurial education believe that entrepreneurs are driven primarily by material gain, senior students with strong entrepreneurial education or experience perceive the heterogeneity of goals and interests of entrepreneurs through entrepreneurship as a lifestyle and self-actualization. The image of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship among students involved in some form of entrepreneurship education is predominantly positive, sometimes reinforced by feelings of admiration, which differs significantly from the view of entrepreneurship within the wider community. Such results are optimistic as they confirm that quality entrepreneurship education could influence the gradual reshaping of social and cultural norms in a way that they would support the strengthening of entrepreneurial capacity in Croatia. In addition to the new empirical knowledge, the main contribution of the research includes a set of recommendations for practice directed to creators of entrepreneurship education programs in Croatia and other comparable countries.
Entrepreneurship in relation to contemporary concepts of education
2018
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN RELATION TO CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTS OF EDUCATION Creativity, initiative and entrepreneurship as the educational goals, and the key components of intellectual capital in the spirit of the European strategy "Education & Training 2020" should be systematically developed at all levels of education. This is not about just narrowly focused preparation for future business, the aim is to guide learners to independence, activity, critical thinking, motivated approach to learning as well as responsible self-learning. In such a way graduates acquire all necessary preconditions for becoming a successful employee, manager and entrepreneur but they should be also prepared and motivated for lifelong learning. Such a complex competency profile to learners is only possible through using the contemporary education concepts based on activating methods as it is demonstrated in the article below. Our aim has been to present original research results concerning the level of actual use of the contemporary concepts of education in relation to the reality of teaching experience. The research questions and hypotheses posed below are directly related to the effectiveness of their application and match the combined research methodology, based on the exploratory methods, but are supplemented by observations and structured interviews as well. It can be stated that the professional development of teachers has not been sufficiently developed yet so that they could effectively develop students' entrepreneurial skills in terms of economic education in the Czech Republic. The presented results show that students of secondary economic schools are more and more exposed to traditional methods that cannot develop creative entrepreneurial skills. Students are not prepared enough in practical training, for surviving in the real economic world and conducting their own business activities. Based on the findings of the research are recommend some priorities and measures concerning the teaching of economic subjects.
The analysis of the certified teachers/trainers of entrepreneurship in Croatia
2011
The paper tries to analyse the "The project of education for teachers/ trainers, counsellors and promoters of entrepreneurship", which was started in 1998 by the Croatian Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship. Ten years afterwards a survey analysis was conducted to analyse the contribution rendered by the teachers/trainers of entrepreneurship to positive entrepreneurship environment which enabled an increase of entrepreneurial activities in the Croatian society. The major results show that almost without any government support, they have disseminated practical knowledge and entrepreneurial attitudes among thousands of people. Our conclusion is that through appropriately developed and delivered education program as well as through appropriate selection and motivation of lecturers and candidates it is possible to master interdisciplinary managerial skills for starting and running SMEs, to accept a holistic approach to entrepreneurship as a life philosophy and to u...
Entrepreneurial education at universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Obrazovanje za poduzetništvo - E4E : znanstveno stručni časopis o obrazovanju za poduzetništvo, 2019
Entrepreneurship education aims at developing not only knowledge and skills for entrepreneurial activity, but also the change of attitude toward entrepreneurship as a way of acting and thinking. Starting from the assumption that higher education is the basis for further professional affirmation and bearing in mind the importance of entrepreneurship for the development of the economy and society, entrepreneurial education should have a very important place in the study programs of higher education institutions. The objective of the subject research is to examine the representation of entrepreneurial education in higher education programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to determine the structure and content of the current curricula and to give a brief overview of the methods and techniques used in teaching. Additionally, opinions of business studies students about entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurship, in terms of interest in programs aimed at strengthening entrepreneurial competencies, were examined, as well as the evaluation of these programs by students, in terms of to which extent they assess the importance and usefulness education for entrepreneurship The existing study programs at business-oriented colleges at public universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina include numerous subjects that, in different ways, address the problems of entrepreneurship. However, education and education programs show weaknesses in terms of insufficient orientation to practice and the inaccessibility of these programs to some students.
Entrepreneurship has an impact on the economic development in a country and encourages entrepreneurship education at the university level. The current research illustrates the model of entrepreneurship education applied in universities. This research uses the post-positivism approach dominated by a description of qualitative analysis. The data is gathered through extensive interviews and literature research at five universities in Indonesia: Universitas Indonesia, Sekolah Tinggi Prasetiya Mulya, Universitas Ciputra, Universitas Bina Nusantara, and Universitas Trisakti (for its Master's Degree Program in Management for Corporate Social Responsibility and Community Entrepreneurship). These universities are selected due to the unique entrepreneurship education models integrated into their vision and mission. In addition, the current research includes reviews of the entrepreneurship education models in National University of Singapore dan University Kebangsaan Malaysia. The results show that the entrepreneurship education model applied at each university has unique added values and local wisdom in accordance with each university's vision, mission, and objectives. It is our hope that the current research may serve as a contribution for policymakers in choosing the entrepreneurship education model that best complies with the university's vision and mission as well as with the requirements of the academia.
Entrepreneurship Education - New Content For The New Paradigm
Navigating through Contemporary World with Adult Education Research and Practice, 2020
The dominant theme of modern economics and political discourses are small and medium enterprises and the promotion of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship serves as an engine of economic development and considers it a way to reduce unemployment. On the other hand, the withdrawal of the state from the largest part of the public services, where it previously had a larger role, such as adult education, led to new forms of satisfying social needs and introduced a concept of social entrepreneurship. Between stimulating a good business environment, affordable sources of financing, a general social climate that is benevolent to entrepreneurial ventures, entrepreneurship education is an important pillar in the overall support to entrepreneurship development, and as such has been embedded into educational policies. For Europe and Serbia, this nontraditional goal in adult education introduces novelties into educational policies and opens new areas for research. Therefore, we conducted research with the goal of finding the presence of entrepreneurship content in strategic policy papers issued by the competent authorities in the European Union and the Republic of Serbia in the period from 2000 until 2019. Our assumption is that the presence of entrepreneurship content without acknowledging its social side is an indication of a change in state paradigm, showing the abandonment of the state’s welfare discourse and the movement towards a neoliberal conception. In the research, we applied document analysis with content and discourse analysis. The results of the research indicate a growing presence of entrepreneurship education in education policies, without accompanying content of social entrepreneurship. This indicates a gradual abandonment of the welfare state concept and a turn towards neoliberal discourse, which is an indicator of the paradigm shift.
The Place of Entrepreneurship in Higher Education – Present State and
Entrepreneurship is one of the main driving forces of the national economies. In Poland, more and more jobs are created in private enterprises, set up and running by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are characterized as people, which seize the opportunity to act, have higher self-esteem and a greater sense of control over their lives, and they, usually become successful people. This causes a widespread conviction, that the promotion of entrepreneurship, may result in maximizing the success of both, individual and in the scale of the national economy as well. Therefore, it becomes important to develop standards in the field of entrepreneurship education, the greater numbers of people would have been able to achieve a professional success. This article presents the essence of the entrepreneurship and the role of education, in entrepreneurship's excitation or strengthening. Also a practical example of the implementation of these provisions by one of the Polish Universities -Czestochowa University of Technology, is presented.
How Does Education Influence Entrepreneurship Orientation? A Case Study of Croatia
The main focus of this paper is the entrepreneurial orientation, i.e. the future career plans of undergraduate and graduate students at the Faculty of Economics, University of Split. The research is based on empirical data, collected by a student survey. We explore students' entrepreneurial orientation, i.e. their intention to establish their own businesses. The emphasis is placed on the impact of the educational system, in terms of its role of providing knowledge and tools, required for implementing an entrepreneurial idea in practice. Furthermore, we explore the difference in entrepreneurial capabilities between students, enrolled into courses, such as Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Workshop, etc., versus those who were not enrolled into such courses. Empirical data on students' behaviors is also collected, in terms of their willingness to use additional opportunities, such as scholarships, grants and international work experience, which provides additional evidence of students' plans for entrepreneurship after finishing their studies. Based on those findings, relevant recommendations are being issued. The main research limitation is related to the fact that research is conducted at a single institution of higher education in Croatia.
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Education Reform and Modern Management (ERMM 2021)
In the current dynamic development of the knowledge-based economy, which is characterized by an increased emphasis on the development of entrepreneurial competencies, the paper deals with possible approaches and a framework for supporting entrepreneurship education at universities. It is necessary to focus student education on active learning, creating challenges for students that would lead them to use thinking in the fields studied. Inclusion of this type of education requires action from the education side (reorientation between students and their teachers) and support from society. The higher importance in Czech Republic is given to conceptual system of entrepreneurship education. It is connected area based on education system, cooperation between schools and the private sector, training of business skills and emphasis is placed on the role of the teacher in this integrated process. This paper gives insight into new supporting and influencing factors for Entrepreneurial Competency Learning.