Educating Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs / Educating Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs

Educating Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs
Over the past two decades there has been a growing debate about how well education systems prepare young people for adult life in general and «enterprise» in the world of work in particular. This debate recognizes the need for societies, organizations and individual citizens to improve their capacity to cope with an increasingly competitive, uncertain and complex role involving higher rates of innovation and change. While the concept of «enterprise» is ambiguous enough to embrace a wide range of educational initiatives —including industry awareness, business management, and new venture creation, and the development of personal and social skills, among others —there is an increasing awareness of entrepreneurship as a distinct educational challenge that needs to be addressed.
There is a worldwide potential to build more entrepreneurial approaches around existing schools (colleges or universities). Existing programs that can be «entrepreneurially enhanced» include those focused upon:
– creating a much greater economic awareness among young people of all ages;
– creating a wider understanding of industry, business and management;
– developing understanding of smell business and its management systems;
– introducing the concept of new venture development via simulation exercises in schools to the young people;
– developing transferable skills such as communication, presentation, negotiation, problem solving, as well as information technology competence;
– opening gateways to better career planning;
– providing work experience for students and teaches; and
– creating business partnerships between schools anд colleges and individuals or groups of firms.
The above list underlines the potential role of business in partnering education with entrepreneurship. If it is successful, then care must be taken to find clear concepts and objectives so that the challenges of entrepreneurship education are clearly .recognized. There needs to be new kinds of partnerships between schools and business. Overall, business will need to reappraise its own role in designing new ways of preparing young people for the entrepreneurial challenge of the 21ST century.