对大学生创业教育的研究外文翻译(可编辑)

对大学生创业教育的研究外文翻译

外文翻译

原文

Examining Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Education

Material Source: Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship19,no.3(2006):pp.233-254

Author: Kyleen K. Myrah, Okanagan College

ABSTRACT. The authors of this paper examine the current state of undergraduate entrepreneurship education.After critiquing the spectrum of liberal and vocational elements of education and the importance of each, a new framework, "Shared Values Framework for Entrepreneurship Education," is proposed and evaluated.Institutions' undergraduate entrepreneurship literature and course material are analysed through content analysis,followed by 12 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with educators working in the field. Findings indicate that as a whole, undergraduate entrepreneurship education is underdeveloped and educators positioned in the field face challenges in three major areas; political tensions, philosophical dilemmas and implementation struggles.The authors conclude with recommendations to support entrepreneurship educators in their practice.

Findings and Discussion

The emphasis by educators teaching entrepreneurship courses on the

technical, business start-up process and required practical skills demonstrates a fairly limited perspective to entrepreneurship education. It also indicates that running a business is considered synonymous with entrepreneurship, and does not include other criteria as discussed in the literature such as innovation Drucker, 1985, creativity, risk and uncertainty Dollinger, 1999, opportunities Timmons, 1990, initiative, imagination and leadership Gibb, 1987 and growth Blawatt, 1998. These findings indicate that the market for entrepreneurship courses is limited and there exists a lack of support or recognition for this type of programming at the institutional level.

The document review found diversity in the program approaches taken to teach this subject area, ranging from short-term technical programs, to broader-based and more integrated long-term programs. Having more opportunity across a whole program to provide exposure to a greater breadth of topics may impact the broader-based approaches found in the entrepreneurship program curricula. Eight institutions in British Columbia were identified as providing some type of entrepreneurship program. Manyof these programs, however, appeared to be business courses packaged together and marketed as an entrepreneurial offering, without a substantive or unique approach to separate it from other business areas. These findings also suggest there could be a lack of support for this subject area as a core part of the business curriculum. This could be because entrepreneurship is not a well-established area of undergraduate educational programming in British Columbia, due, in part, to the limited demand in the post-secondary market for entrepreneurship

programs.

The state of entrepreneurship education evident from the document review appears more reflective of the vocational approach to education identified earlier in the study. Short-term, instrumental courses and programs offered at manyof the institutions fits well into the emphasis on worker education. Pring 1995 defines the characteristics of vocational preparation as focusing on skills, attitudes, qualities and knowledge primarily for entry into the world of work. The pursuit of competence is primary, whether at work, in the home, or the community, rather than the pursuit of intellectual excellence for its ownsake. It is the belief that this learning is best practiced by engaging the learner in an adult world, through practical and activity-based tasks, with authorities from industry and commerce.

The ideology of fiscal restraint, and the need for capital and a cheap and mobile workforce, is characteristic of a more conservative agenda and the demand for just-in-time knowledge workers. Entrepreneurship education is perhaps one response to this particular agenda as individuals, rather than government, are focused upon as a site of change through personal development and attitudinal adjustment. As House 1995 argues, educators around the world are being encouraged to adopt entrepreneurship as a vehicle for creating and disseminating knowledge with the goal of raising national competitiveness. Interests and values that reflect this more conservative approach are well hidden under the auspices of "skill development," and could be seen as more defensible to the stakeholder learning community who demandrelevant and applied programs. For example, the push for

curriculum changes has been fuelled by what Pring 1995 refers to as educational aims based on preparation for life, personal effectiveness and relevance: "Both parents and pupils but not teachers put utility and relevance to working life high on their lists" 16.

The purpose of interviews was to determine the goals and values that are reflected in educators' approaches, how they believe the entrepreneurship field should develop and the kinds of challenges they face in their practice. Three major themes arose out of these conversations: political tensions, philosophical dilemmas and implementation struggles.

Political tensions. The findings demonstrate that the participants work in political environments; they have to navigate between manycompeting constraints that can impinge upon student success and the learning environment. What these educators are able to provide,

and what activities and discourses they engage in depends, in part, on

certain political factors:

It tells me a lot about the fact that they don't have a great deal

of commitment for the course and also that they don't have anybody with the real expertise required to do an excellent job of the course. Terry

Educators have to fit their perspective within an institutional

context that may be resisted by colleagues, by students, by the organization or the marketplace their school serves-tensions which many of the participants revealed. Restrictions on instructors, or unrealistic expectations. Bill asserted, undermines the

quality of programming they are able to offer: "Weteach entrepreneurship, but we do not allow anyone here to be entrepreneurial." This includes limitations on student activities such as operating actual shortterm businesses or performing market research, and faculty workloads that do not recognize the contribution of self-employment experience. The major political tensions that participants identified included institutional limitations and curriculum politics, student tensions and resource gaps.

Both the participants and literature see Finkle and Deeds, 2001;

Katz, 2003 discussed resource constraints limiting the growth of entrepreneurship education. Relevant to the participants was the lack of faculty or disinterest to teach in this area, and limited institutional support and resources, whereas the literature argued more about the need for academically qualified educators, and tenured, career-track opportunities as critical factors for its development:

A lot of them don't ever want to teach entrepreneurship either, because they are too focused on one particular side ofthe business education and they can't be a generalist and they can't think about all things at once. Dan

Researchers have argued for a broader interdisciplinary paradigm that would be more conducive to a holistic and integrated approach. The participants did not specifically discuss the need for a new framework, but they did identify limitations, particularly time, which impacted their ability to offer a broader approach: Yes, there is a lot of material in the textbook and we need to spend more time on something else. I amnot saying it [ethics] is not important; all I amsaying is that we

would skim the surface, touch on it, of course. Randy

Because many participants spoke about the lack of time allotted in the curriculum for entrepreneurship programming, their inability to engage in an integrated approach is, in part, related to what could be perceived as insufficient institutional support.

Pressure by students was also identified as contributing to time limitations. Both Grant and Sandra discussed the mature student market which they felt wasnot interested in small business designations. Rather, these students want short-term programs that provide them with the training to get their business up and running quickly: "They just wanted in, give me the tools, give me the skills, and let me get out as fast as possible" Grant.

The participants also indicated that the growth of entrepreneurship education appears to be related, to some degree, by "champions" in the institution, and administrative backing. The process that Laura used to develop a new entrepreneurship program included a thorough scan of what other schools were doing around the world, as well as a major literature review. She surveyed broader education programs and entrepreneurship concentrations, majors and minors, and wasvery informed about the different philosophies guiding this type of programming. Bob revealed a similar process at his institution involving two professors conducting a scan of approximately 34 different entrepreneurship programs around the world, assessing what worked and what did not work, and what could best be developed for their particular situation. For the majority of participants, however, they appeared to

be the only entrepreneurship educator at their institution, which may greatly infiuence the type of institutional support they are able to gain. This could be another reason why the literature so strongly argues for the need to have more academically trained entrepreneurship educators positioned in the institutional arena.

Philosophical dilemmas. The participants indicated they wrestled with philosophical dilemmas as a result of the political tensions in their teaching environments. What is emphasized and available within their institutional context, and what is not possible, has to be reconciled with their beliefs and values of their own practice. There was the impression by three ofthe interviewees that the environment educators taught in actually worked against the development of an entrepreneurial culture,

mindset and set of values: "I think the educational system, including our institution, has a lot to answer for the damage it has done to entrepreneurial people" Bill. The need to follow institutional guidelines, such as uniformity requirements across the institution, fitting the course into a specific time frame, other competing interests such as articulation requirements of certain programs, and the need to begin and end at certain places, all have constricted the format and methods which are available to these educators.

The discussion of participants' philosophy regarding what approach entrepreneurship educators should take is a manifestation of the earlier debate discussed in the paper between a liberal versus vocational orientation to education, and the competing interests and ideologies this encompasses. Someparticipants