The In-depth investigation of the Impact of Entrepreneurial Education on Polish Students' career aspirations

Gary Packham, Amanda Jones, WILLIAM JONES, P Zbierowski

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

    Abstract

    The study provides an insight into the impact of an entrepreneurship education module on a cohort of Polish students. The study examines the impact of the course in-terms of entrepreneurial attitude. The study will highlight the individuals upon which the greatest impact was identified. Existing entrepreneurship education literature questions the construction of entrepreneurship into the curriculum. Current debate focuses on the effectiveness of formal entrepreneurship as opposed to informal provision. This study profiles a practical example of such a programme focusing on the entrepreneurial motivations, prior experiences and future entrepreneurial aspirations of the students. An entrepreneurship course was delivered to a cohort of 100+ students in Katowice/ Silesia providing a practical understanding of entrepreneurial skills and the business start-up process. The basis for this study were two semi structured questionnaires completed prior to and on completion of the course. The study is based on individual measurement of programme impact and investigating the attitude and student experience on specific sub-groups. The study utilised comprise descriptive statistics, cross-classifications and T-test methods via SPSS. The study found that Polish students had limited prior entrepreneurial experiences and expectations and welcomed the opportunity to undertake entrepreneurial education. The findings suggested an equal proportion of male and female students favoured a future entrepreneurial career. Encouragingly, a quarter of all students surveyed welcomed an immediate entrepreneurial career on completion of their graduate studies and found particular value in the development of a business idea. The most significant finding was that the biggest impact of course was on the location of the prospective business. Students after the course want to develop global businesses as opposed to a local or regional enterprises. Results demonstrated that the course had a higher impact on Polish than non-Polish students. Furthermore, the course had limited impact on active students-entrepreneurs but had a strong impact on students with some prior entrepreneurial experience. This paper provides evidence into the effectiveness of specifically developed entrepreneurship education as a mechanism to influence future career aspirations.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationN/A
    Number of pages10
    Publication statusPublished - 4 Nov 2009
    Event 32nd Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference - Liverpool
    Duration: 3 Nov 20096 Nov 2009

    Conference

    Conference 32nd Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference
    Period3/11/096/11/09

    Keywords

    • entrepreneurship
    • education
    • poland
    • undergraduate
    • attitude

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