K 3.1
Session: K
Parallel Session: 3.1
Research Domain: Higher Education Policy; Management, Leadership and governance
Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes
De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
Student Entrepreneurship In Higher Education: Activities, Ambitions And Barriers
Introduction
The paper explores the role of education policy in increasingly promoting entrepreneurship
education in schools, colleges and universities. It focuses on universities where it has led to the
emergence of entrepreneurship programmes offered to students as part of accredited courses and
as extra-curricula activities. It has also contributed to the emergence of student enterprise clubs,
“dragon’s den” type business competitions, self-employment work experience, business incubation
units and business activities among students.
Methods
The paper is based on an analysis of secondary data sources, interviews and focus groups with
students and staff involved in entrepreneurship programmes and knowledge transfer, interviews
with student club members and observation of student business competitions.
Discussion
The paper explores the characteristics of students engaged in entrepreneurship activities in terms
of discipline background, parental background, ethnicity, nationality and gender. It also examines
their motivations for engaging in such activities and their aspirations to become graduate
entrepreneurs. The paper explores the contribution of student entrepreneurial activity to financing
their studies and its impact on the time and energy they can devote to successfully completing their
studies. It also examines whether student debt makes students more risk averse, decreases their
likelihood of obtaining bank loans, and deters or delays plans for business start-up on graduation.
The paper concludes by raising questions about the adequacy of government support to help
realise the business start-up potential and aspirations unleashed by the promotion of enterprise
educational programmes at universities.
References
Birch, C.J.& Clements, B. 2007 Creating graduate entrepreneurship through self-employed work
placements – Project SPEED (unpubl)
Botham, R. & Mason, C. 2007: Good Practice in Enterprise Development in UK Higher Education,
National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship, Research Report 004/2007
Hannon, P. 2005 ‘Teaching Pigeons to Dance’: Sense and Meaning in Entrepreneurship
Education Paper presented at ISBE conference Illuminating Entrepreneurship: the theory and
Practice of Enterprise Creation and Development
Tackey, N.D. & S. Perryman 1999 Graduates Mean business: A Study of Graduate Selfemployment and Business Start-ups, Institute for Employment Studies