GO SUCCESS : Entrepreneurship: A Unique Opportunity for Higher Education A Focus on Entrepreneurship

Higher education generally contributes to local and regional economies through workforce development and its function in transferring technology, as well as through the income colleges generate. A study in Georgia found that for every $1 the University brings into the community, it generates $.56 in additional economic activity.

Dr. David A. Sampson, assistant secretary of
Commerce for Economic Development, sug-
gests that universities “must acknowledge that
economic development is part of their core
mission.”
Higher education generally contributes to local and regional economies through workforce development and its function in transferring technology, as well as through the income colleges generate. A study in Georgia found that for every $1 the University brings into the community, it generates $.56 in additional economic activity.

While these functions continue to make valuable contributions to local and regional
economic development efforts, there is a compelling case for colleges and universities to play a more signifcant role in the emergence of entrepreneurship support. Over the past four decades industrial attraction and competition on the basis of cost have been the dominant guiding theories directing community eco-
nomic development. Globalization has now rendered these strategies almost obsolete.


Entrepreneurship cultivation and support, enterprise development and quality of life
issues are now at the forefront of community based economic development. For example:
• Only 1% of new job creation now comes
from business relocations.
• The other 99% come from the expansion
of existing businesses (55%) and new star
ups (44%).
• An international study indicated that the
direct correlation between the level of
entrepreneurial activity and economic
growth is greater than 70%.4. In Minnesota small businesses dominate the state’s economic landscape. In raw numbers, 195,000 Minnesota businesses have fewer than 20 employees; 75,000 of these have from 1 to 4 employees.5
This means that more and more college graduates are creating their own jobs
rather than climbing career ladders within large organizations. Higher education can contribute to these efforts by:
• Supporting local efforts to generate and
support entrepreneurship at the commu-
nity level.
• Incubating new entrepreneurs through
training, educational programs, civic
engagement and internships.
• Fostering innovation and entrepreneurial
approaches to today’s complex society.

Expanding Opportunities in Entrepreneurship Education

“To a great extent you can’t really teach entrepreneurship. You have to model it.”
—David Birch

Entrepreneurship is like swimming. Many of us may want to do it and are capable of doing it. To become profcient at it, however, requires experiential learning. The best, most clearly written “how to swim” book in the world is a poor substitute for getting in the water and moving around. According to McCall,7
“[O]ur colleges must respond to the need to develop entrepreneur-ship in our communities to foster economic development.” A growing number of campuses
offer entrepreneurship certifcates and emphases within business degrees. As of 2003 there were 406 endowed positions in entrepreneurship at U.S. colleges and universities.8

Small Business Development Centers housed on campuses provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs. Likewise, other centers have emerged with the study of entrepreneurship and enterprise development at the core of their mission. These centers exist at two-year, four-year, public and private schools, offering
opportunities for students to get their feet wet by participating in hands-on entrepreneurial activities. Gibb9 provides suggestions for creating a climate for teaching entrepreneurship:
• Create and reinforce a strong sense of indi-
vidual ownership.
• Reinforce the personal ability to make
things happen and see things through.
• Maximize the opportunity for individuals
to take responsibility for a wide and inte-
grated range of tasks.
• Tolerate ambiguity and allow mistakes as a
basis for learning.
• Encourage strategic thinking before formal
planning.
• Emphasize the importance of personal
trust and “know who” as a basis for man-
agement rather than formal relationships.
• Encourage informal overlap between departments and groups as a basis for
developing a common culture.

Entrepreneurship Across the
Curriculum

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are thus
needed in society as much as in the economy.”
—Peter Drucker.10

Today’s world needs colleges and universities to embrace entrepreneurship in all of its manifestations. Pedagogy that encourages entrepreneurial thinking helps students create insights, connect different kinds of knowledge, and discover innovative ways to apply knowledge. Who will come up with the innovative solutions to the diverse array of challenges facing us, and what new types of social enterprise will fund their implementation? If we remove our ideas about entrepreneurship from the narrow and limiting association with business start-ups and create a fundamental
place for entrepreneurship across the curriculum, we will increasingly fnd ourselves
educating students who are persistent solution fnders.

Emerging Models

Several schools are beginning to expand the pro-
fle of entrepreneurship across their campuses.
• Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin
incorporates entrepreneurial studies in its
natural sciences curriculum.
• In 2003, the Kauffman Foundation
awarded eight higher education institu-
tions up to $5 million each to enable any
students access to entrepreneurial training.11
• The Kauffman Entrepreneurial Faculty Scholars Program brings faculty together
from multiple disciplines to integrate entrepreneurship into their courses. Why do they support these programs? According to Carl Schramm, “We want all students not just those enrolled in business or engineering schools to have the skills that lead to greater opportunities for them, that result in more jobs for our community,
That inspire innovation and that ultimately fuel prosperity
for America.”12

Entrepreneurship Education
Requires Civic Engagement

“[T]he mission of universities is not only about
the scholarship of discovery (research)...It is also
about the scholarship of relevance and the schol-
arship of integration.”

—Allan Gibb14
Simply building a business skill set (communication, marketing, accounting) doesn’t necessarily give a student skills that are transferable to entrepreneurship. We need to get enterprising students out into the community and into practical situations.
Educators strive to turn information into knowledge and ultimately turn knowledge into wisdom. By supporting a culture of entrepreneurship, higher education can help to facilitate the next and most important step, wisdom to action. Fostering this change in institutional culture will result in a more engaged faculty, a more relevant and useful link between research and practice, and more integrated community/institutional partnership. Entrepreneurship across the curriculum benefts not only the academy, but also provides vitally important innovations for competing in the new economcreating new ways of addressing social welfare,and addressing sustainable development.


References

1. Anderson, L. (Ed.), (2004). Economic Developmen
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Economic Development Administration.
2. Humphreys, J. (2005). The Economic Impact
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icapp.org/pubs/impact/economic_impact_fy04.
pdf.
3. Maki, W., (2005). Economic development Theory
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Does Entrepreneurship Education?” An interview
with David Birch. Academy of Management
Learning and Education, Vol. 3, No. 3, 289-292.
7. McCall, M. (2005). “Advocacy and an Agenda for
Economic Development.” Community College
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8. Katz, J. (2004). 2004 Survey of Endowed Positions
in Entrepreneurship and Related Fields in
the United States. Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation. Information available at http://www.
kauffman.org/research.cfm?itemID=417.
9. Gibb, A. (1998). “Educating Tomorrow’s
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10. Drucker, P. (1985). Innovation and
Entrepreneurship. New York: Harper & Row, 254.
11. Kauffman Campuses. Web site, http://www.kauff-
man.org/campuses.
12. Kauffman Foundation. (2004). “Entrepreneurship
Education: Not Just for Business Majors
Anymore.” January 12, 2004 Press Release.
Information available at http://www.kauffman.
org/news.cfm?itemID=408.
13. Arion, D. Hedberg Distinguished Professor of
Entrepreneurial Studies and Professor of Physics,
Carthage College, (personal communication) July
14, 2006.
14. Gibb, A. (2000). “Entrepreneurship at universities
should reach all faculties.” Science Oct. 20, 2000.
Information available at http://sciencecareers.
sciencemag.org/career_development/issue/
articles/0630/entrepreneurship_at_universi-
ties_should_reach_all_faculties/(parent).
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