Let the entrepreneurial genie out of the bottle!
how will we stimulate the nascent entrepreneurial skills of our students?
Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 May 2019
was held at Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, Leuven, Belgium
See the programme, presentations and summary of the outcomes
Colloquium focus
The new generation of life sciences graduates are expected to show creativity, resilience, pro-activeness and risk taking while being able to recognise business opportunities: in short to exhibit entrepreneurship competencies. Whereas traditionally entrepreneurship education was the domain of business schools to stimulate new venture creation, entrepreneurship education has become more and more a university wide approach, focussing on the development of an entrepreneurial mind-set and entrepreneurial competence among staff and hence the students.
The entrepreneurial development of our students is increasingly dependent on the entrepreneurial experience gained throughout the whole life science curriculum. The goal of this Colloquium is to share views, experiences and practices on how to stimulate the nascent entrepreneurship competencies in curricular as well as extra-curricular activities in the Life sciences.
Colloquium themes
The aim of the ICA-EDU Colloquium 2019 is centred on three theme questions:
• What do I see as my challenge in stimulating nascent entrepreneurial skills?
• What entrepreneurial learning outcomes do I want to achieve?
• What are cutting edge entrepreneurial learning activities and how do I assess them?
The Colloquium is structured around three sessions. In each session there will be keynote presentation(s), selected interventions by the Colloquium delegates and followed by roundtable discussion and report back to the whole Colloquium.
Expected Colloquium Outcomes
• Increased awareness about the relevance and cutting edge learning practices in entrepreneurship education
• Overview of exemplary learning outcomes that can be achieved by life sciences students through entrepreneurship education
• Inspiring and concrete examples for integrating entrepreneurship education into new or existing courses and curricula, curricular and extra-curricular, and
• Overview of existing challenges in current design of entrepreneurship education in Life Sciences Universities.
Colloquium background
Global entrepreneurship surveys such as the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (GUESS) indicate that around 9% of our university graduates have the intention to work in their own business directly after studies. Similarly, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) indicates that in innovation-driven economies (such as in Europe), almost one out of ten adults (18–64 years old) in Europe is involved in the process of starting or already running a new business. However, the importance of entrepreneurship goes beyond the start-up perspective: the European Union as well as the European Society for Engineering Education emphasize the significance of entrepreneurship as one of the key competencies necessary for all (life-long) learners.
Education is increasingly seen as having a responsibility to encourage future graduates – including those who do not want to become independent entrepreneurs - to develop and internalise an entrepreneurial mind-set and associated competencies. Like in any other profession, although talent helps, there is a lot to be learnt in order to be able to adopt an entrepreneurial thinking and acting mindset.
What type of entrepreneurship education works under which circumstances for which students? What is clear is that entrepreneurship education is not only teaching about entrepreneurship (so new content) nor providing exclusively experiential learning possibilities (i.e. learning for entrepreneurship): but includes innovative ways of learning and teaching inside and outside curricula. For instance, approaches can include problem based and project-based learning activities, internships and exposure in courses to entrepreneurial role models and entrepreneurial guest lectures.
Entrepreneurship education is not only the responsibly of specialised departments or centres but also the responsibility of the core curriculum of life sciences subjects. Although recent meta-analyses suggest that more social constructivist methods are important for teaching and learning in entrepreneurship education, there are no fixed methods or progression models for entrepreneurship education. Depending on the phase in the entrepreneurial journey (from very nascent to highly experienced) and the nature of the learning objectives, teaching and learning activities may vary.
The goal of the colloquium is to discuss experiences with integrating entrepreneurship education into life sciences curricula, including assessment, and the type of entrepreneurial learning outcomes they may generate. In short, how to stimulate the nascent entrepreneurial skills of our students.
Target Audience
The ICA-Edu Colloquium is designed to bring together staff from ICA Member institutions who have a particular interest in developing innovative approaches in teaching and their students learning.
See the programme, presentations and summary of the outcomes