IMR JAN 2013 - Indira Institutes

' UNLOCKING ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPABILITIES -:A STRATEGIC APPROACH TOECONOMIC GROWTH BY UNIVERSITIES .’Shabana A. Memon(Faculty, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Institute of Management, Kadamwadi. Kolhapur.)ABSTRACT:Entrepreneurship education ranks high onpolicy agendas in India as entrepreneurialawareness is in tandem with the Indiangovernment's aspiration to avoiddependency, on existing organizations foremployment opportunity and to encourageyoung adults especially graduates to “createemployment” via venture creation.Entrepreneurship refers to an individual'sability to turn ideas into action. Realizing theimportance of entrepreneurs in thedevelopment of the economy, efforts shouldbe taken to nurture entrepreneurship in allways. Education institutions, particularlyhigher education institutions, can beentrusted with a new additional task, whichis to contribute to the development ofentrepreneurial talent among younggraduates. University graduates haveenormous potential for innovation andeconomic development, mobilizing them forentrepreneurial careers, enhancing theirentrepreneurial skills and providing supportfor business start-up are important and anew tasks for higher education institutionsthat are only now being fully recognized.This paper explores the role of highereducation in fostering entrepreneurshipeducation. The entrepreneurial based highereducation system may lead to the delivery ofhigh technology, practical oriented graduatesthat will be competitive in the world of workacross their professions.Keywords: entrepreneurship education,economic development, entrepreneurialtalentINTRODUCTIONEntrepreneurship has been hailed as the newengine of economic growth in bothdeveloped and developing countries. It isparadigmatically referred to as the process ofinnovatively exploring and exploitingopportunities in the midst of risks anduncertainty by synthesizing resources tocreate novel outputs often within the contextof new organizational formation (Casson,2003; Shane, 2003). Exalted as the drivingforce of innovation, entrepreneurship offersthe benefits of increased economicefficiencies, bringing Innovation to themarket, job creation and sustainedemployment.Regional colleges and universities areintegral to providing economic andworkforce development resources thatsupport local and regional economies.Similarly nascent entrepreneurs createeconomies and build enterprises throughdeliberate planning and risk taking. Manyuniversities are taking specific actions toadapt to the new social and business needs.Barnett (1994) has defined the changingsituation as a shift 'from higher educationin society to higher education of society.'Universities have developed technology84 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013