How can Entrepreneurship be taught in Higher Education. Differentiated methods for Business and Non-Business Studies

This paper examines how entrepreneurship can be taught in Higher Education. Millions of people all over the world have taken the entrepreneurial challenge and succeeded, and the numbers of people branching into entrepreneurship has necessitated the need for entrepreneurship to be taught in higher education. Surveys (European commission (2008); Shaantanupurab (2010), have revealed that most students drop out of school as they feel that what is being taught is irrelevant and they proceed to go and start businesses, but not all succeed. Thus the paper seeks to address how entrepreneurship can be taught in higher education in a manner that will be relevant and beneficial to the student at the same time motivational enough to keep them in school. This research is in line with the desires of the European Commission (2012) that has identified the need to stimulate the entrepreneurial mindsets of young people and to create a more favorable societal climate for entrepreneurs. The paper is based on reviews of literature and on the practices of other higher education institutions. The literature review will be based on the methods of teaching used in business and non-business studies. Indications from the study are that in business studies entrepreneurs should be incorporated in the teaching of entrepreneurship on a more permanent basis, with the need for the lecturers to have an entrepreneurial background, entrepreneurship exposure or simply be in business as well and longer incubation periods for the students. While the non-business students could be included in the entrepreneurial arena by having an introductory course and elective courses for entrepreneurship offered to them at undergraduate studies. Overall conclusion is that entrepreneurship is in need of syllabuses of most higher education institutions with focus on including a diversity of student groups.