Education, Training and Networking for Entrepreneurship in ...

In this chapter, we shall examine each condition,
track its changes in Denmark and compare
Denmark to other developed countries, and
then, in the next chapter, we shall estimate effects
of the conditions upon entrepreneurial activity.
The extent of entrepreneurial education in Denmark
has changed, Table 4.1. The conveyance
of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills has
tended to increase over the years (for specific
educational initiatives, see Erhvervs- og Byggestyrelsen
2008: 69-71).
Education in entrepreneurship
Education here refers to the formal instruction,
all the way up through higher education, that
provides knowledge and skills for performing
the entrepreneurial role (Schøtt, 2006a:68,
2007a:35, 2008:29). This kind of education in
entrepreneurship in Denmark is assessed annually
by asking a panel of experts to ascertain
truthfulness of each of the following statements,
– In Denmark, teaching in primary and secondary
education encourages creativity, selfsufficiency,
and personal initiative.
– In Denmark, teaching in primary and secondary
education provides adequate instruction
in market economic principles.
– In Denmark, teaching in primary and secondary
education provides adequate attention
to entrepreneurship and new firm creation.
– In Denmark, colleges and universities provide
good and adequate preparation for starting
up and growing new firms.
– In Denmark, the level of business and management
education provide good and adequate
preparation for starting up and growing
new firms.
– In Denmark, the vocational, professional,
and continuing education systems provide
good and adequate preparation for starting
up and growing new firms.
Each expert ascertains the truthfulness of each
statement in terms of ’Completely false’, ’Somewhat
false’, ’Neither true nor false’, ’Somewhat
true’ and ’Completely true’. The assessment is
quantified on a scale from 1 to 5. The assessments
are then averaged across the experts
and averaged across the six statements for a
measure for the year. With measurement taken
in 2008 and preceding years we can track recent
changes in the extent of education in entrepreneurship.
Table 4.1
Education for entrepreneurship
in Denmark
Annually from 2002 to 2008
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2,3 2,2 2,3 2,3 2,4 2,5 2,4
Where does this entrepreneurial education
bring Denmark in comparison to other countries?
The entrepreneurial content in education
is likewise assessed in the other countries participating
in GEM. In the seven years from 2002
to 2008, the framework conditions have been
assessed in 39 other developed countries listed
in Chapter 2. A summary measure that reduces
year-to-year fluctuations as well as emphasizes
the most recent time is a weighted average,
weighing the second year (2003) of measurement
twice as much as the first year (2002), the
third year (2004) three times as much as the
first year, and so on up to the most recent year
(2008), that is weighted seven times as much as
the first year. This weighted average is used for
comparing the framework conditions among
the developed countries, Table 4.2 (and similar
tables in the rest of this chapter).
Entrepreneurial education is more extensive in
several developed countries, notably Singapore,
USA and Latvia. Among the developed
countries, Denmark is far below the middle,
71% of the others are above and only 29% of the
others are below.
In short, although the entrepreneurial content
in education in Denmark has been expanding, it
is still far less than typical for the developed
countries.
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