Entrepreneurial Education in Germany Jutta Günther, Ilka Ritter IWH ...

Entrepreneurial Education in Germany
Jutta Günther, Ilka Ritter
IWH
September 2007
Deliverable Nr 16d(1) for
Understanding the Relationship between Knowledge and
Competitiveness in the Enlarging European Union (U-Know)
This research has been partially financed by the EU Commission, in Framework Programme 6,
Priority 7 on “Citizens and Governance in a knowledge based society”, contract nr CIT5-028519. The
author is solely responsible for the contents which might not represent the opinion of the Community.
The Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of data appearing in this
publication.

Entrepreneurial Education in Germany
Table of Contents
Entrepreneurial Education in Germany...................................................................................... 2
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3
2. Characteristics of HEI providing entrepreneurial education.................................................. 4
2.1. General characteristics of the HEI .................................................................................. 4
2.2. Entrepreneurship chairs................................................................................................... 5
3. Courses on entrepreneurial education at German HEI........................................................... 8
4. Entrepreneurial education and the science-industry link ..................................................... 11
4.1. Commercialization and entrepreneurship in the HEI mission statements..................... 11
4.2. Infrastructure and services of the HEI for knowledge commercialization.................... 12
4.3. Co-operation (chairs – infrastructure) and financing of “Gründungsberatung” ........... 14
5. Special topic: East Germany ................................................................................................ 16
6. Case studies .......................................................................................................................... 16
6.1. Leuphana University Lüneburg..................................................................................... 16
6.2. University of Potsdam................................................................................................... 22
6.3. FH Bonn-Rhein Sieg ..................................................................................................... 26
7. Summary .............................................................................................................................. 30
2

1. Introduction
Entrepreneurial education is becoming more and more important for higher education
institutions (HEI) in Germany since the 1980s. Before, entrepreneurial education was hardly
available. If at all it was carried out by chambers of commerce, professional associations etc.
But since the 1980s, academia has discovered the field, and universities as well as universities
of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen) provide an increasing number of courses on
entrepreneurship. Finally, the first chair for entrepreneurship was established in Germany in
1997. Today, more than 50 active entrepreneurship chairs exist at German higher education
institutions.
An important organization for research on entrepreneurial education in Germany is the
Förderkreis Gründungsforschung e.V. (Society for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship
Research, FGF). The FGF, besides other activities, runs a periodic survey on entrepreneurship
chairs in Germany (since 1998).
One major challenge as regards the implementation of a survey for Germany is the very dense
network of higher education institutions. In Germany, according to the Federal Statistical
Office, in 2006/07 exist 383 higher education institutions. 1 It would have been impossible
within the scope of this project to screen such a large number of institutions from scratch. In
order to keep things feasible, and in order to make use of existing survey material, we took
the FGF database on entrepreneurship chairs as a starting point. The FGF has a list of
entrepreneurship chairs (active chairs, vacant chairs, planned chairs). We restricted our survey
to those higher education institutions which have at least one actively operating
entrepreneurship chair (HEI with vacant and planned chairs hardly offer information on
courses, target group etc.). Our decision to include only HEI with an active entrepreneurship
chair is of course a pragmatic approach, and one has to be aware that there exist HEI
providing courses in the field of entrepreneurship, but not having an entrepreneurship chair. 2
At the time we run the survey (March – April 2007), we identified 49 higher education
institutions (HEI) with at least one actively operating entrepreneurship chair. We took these
HEI from the FGF list of entrepreneurship chairs (see www.fgf-ev.de; Map of
Entrepreneurship Chairs). 3 We greatly thank the FGF for support and cooperation. From the
FGF we also obtained data on the “faculty” to which the chair belongs, on the chair’s
1 Source: http://www.destatis.de/basis/d/biwiku/hochtab1.php; The number of 383 includes 6 teacher training
colleges (Pädagogische Hochschulen), 15 colleges of theology (Theologische Hochschulen), and 53 colleges of
art (Kunsthochschulen). So, even if we would exclude them, the number remains very high.
2 The FGF offers a list of more than 30 so-called “entrepreneurship-affiliated” chairs, but this is explicitly an
exemplary and selective list. The recent publication of Achleitner et al. (2007) identifies 45 entrepreneushipaffiliated
chairs in Germany. However, it remains difficult to generate a reliable list of HEI providing
entrepreneurial education in Germany.
3
We excluded those HEI where an existing entrepreneurship chair is vacant and those where an entrepreneurship
chair is planned, but not yet realized.
3

“scientific specialization”, and on the “target group”, i.e. whether the entrepreneurship
teaching is aimed to educate future entrepreneurs or future entrepreneurship researchers. In
addition to this, we collected the following information via Internet, Email contact, and phone
calls.
2. Characteristics of HEI providing entrepreneurial education
2.1. General characteristics of the HEI
As mentioned above, we included 49 HEI in the survey of which seven are private, stateapproved
HEI. Among them, we identified different types (universities, technical universities,
universities of applied sciences, and business schools). 4 The majority of HEI dealing with
entrepreneurial education falls into the category of universities of applied sciences (25),
followed by universities (18) of which one is an open university (Fernuniversität Hagen).
There are four technical universities and two “business schools” in our data set. Business
Schools are not subject to official statistics in Germany. In Germany, the official statistics
distinguish the following types of HEI: Universities (Universitäten), Universities of Applied
Sciences (Fachhochschulen), Teacher Training Colleges (Pädagogische Hochschulen),
Colleges of Theology (Theologische Hochschulen), and Colleges of Art (Kunsthochschulen).
Figure 1 Overview of HEI in Germany 2006/2007 1
Universities
(incl. 4 Technical Universities, TU)
Total
number of
HEI*
Students enrolled
2006/2007*
4
Number of HEI with
entrepreneurship
education
103 1,372,893 22
(incl. 4 TU)
Universities of Applied Sciences 206 570,712 25
*refers to official statistics (Federal Statistical Office of Germany), 2006/2007.
1
Excluding teacher training colleges (Pädagogische Hochschulen), Colleges of Theology (Theologische
Hochschulen), and Colleges of Art (Kunsthochschulen).
There are HEI of very different age in our sample. The oldest HEI was founded in 1472
(Ludwig-Maximilians University München) and the youngest in 2003 (Zeppelin University –a
small private university) 5 . Overall, ten HEI were founded between 1472 and 1900, 16 were
4 We define a “business school” as an independent HEI offering programs solely or predominantly in the field of
business administration. In general, there do not (yet) exist many business schools in Germany. In some cases it
was not obvious whether a HEI is business school, a university or a university of applied sciences. In case of
doubt, we interviewed the relevant HEI and asked which category they would ascribe themselves to.
5
University of Duisburg-Essen was also created in 2003, but it was a fusion of two existing universities in
North-Rhine Westphalia (Ruhrgebiet).

founded between 1901 and 1990. The largest group (23 HEI) are rather young HEI, founded
after 1990, among them many universities of applied sciences (18). One might expect that the
majority of these 23 HEI were founded in the Eastern part of Germany, but only 10 of theses
young HEI are located in the Eastern part of the country.
The size of the HEI in our sample, expressed as total number of students enrolled in the
winter term 2006-2007, varies between 300 and 47,500. In the group of small HEI (12) with
up to 3,000 students are many private schools (including the two business schools) with few
but specialized programs, often in the field of business, economics, and information
technology – of course including aspects of entrepreneurship. One third of the HEI in our
sample (16) are medium sized with more than 3000 and up to 10,000 students. In this group
only one HEI is a university, the rest are universities of applied sciences. Finally, there are
many large HEI in our data set (21) with more than 10,000 students enrolled. In this category
we find predominantly universities, technical universities (all three), and only two universities
of applied sciences.
Figure 2 General characteristics of HEI
Formation of University (HEI) Number of enrolled students
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Until 1900 10 20,4% Up to 3000 12 24,5%
1901 - 1990 16 32,7% 3001 - 10000 16 32,7%
After 1990 23 46,9% Above 10000 21 42,9%
Total 49 100,0% Total 49 100,0%
2.2. Entrepreneurship chairs
Together, the 49 HEI in our survey have 54 active entrepreneurship chairs. 6 Only five of
the professors are women (9%), which is fairly below the already low share of female
professors in Germany (14% on average). 7
Nearly half of the entrepreneurship chairs (25) are “Stiftungsprofessuren”.
“Stiftungprofessur” means that a newly established professorship is initially financed
externally (not by the HEI), for example through a company, a foundation, or other private or
6 In two cases the entrepreneurship chair is a Honorarprofessor (honorary professor). Honorary professor is a
title awarded to people that have given lectures at a particular university for several years while working
somewhere else (they usually give one lecture or seminar each semester).
7 http://www.bmbf.de/pub/zukunftswerkstatt_deutschland.pdf
5

public organizations. Commonly, the agreement between the HEI and the founder places the
full financing responsibility for the chair on the part of the HEI after a period of five years. In
our sample, for example three chairs are financed by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau
(KfW), one is an SAP professorship etc.
The entrepreneurship chairs have teams of different size, ranging from 1 to 12 people
(scientific staff, including the professor). On average, a team consists of 3.5 scientists. Most
teams are rather small groups with up to 3 people (56%). Only 11% of the teams consist of
more than 8 persons.
From previous studies on entrepreneurial education in Germany (especially the FGF reports)
we know, that the programs and courses are mostly offered in a faculty of economics. We can
confirm this through our survey. The vast majority of chairs (43 out of 53) belong to an
economics faculty (economics or business administration). The rest belongs to social sciences
(2), computer science (2), engineering (3), education sciences (1), natural science (1), and
others (2). 8
Figure 3 Faculty affiliation of entrepreneurship chairs
Faculty affiliation of Entrepreneurship chairs
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Economics 43 79,6%
Engineering sciences 3 5,6%
Computer sciences 2 3,7%
Social sciences 2 3,7%
Pedagogics / education 1 1,9%
Natural sciences 1 1,9%
Others 2 3,7%
Total 54 100,0%
Percentage
90,0%
75,0%
60,0%
45,0%
30,0%
15,0%
0,0%
Faculty Affiliation
Economics
6
Engineering Sciences
Computer sciences
Social sciences
Pedagogics / education
Natural sciences
As shown in the chart below, the entrepreneurship chairs have different specializations. 9 Not
very surprising, nearly all chairs stated that they deal with “entrepreneurship in general” (over
90%), followed by “innovative start-ups” as an important field too. Also frequently mentioned
is the field of “finance” and “take over / business successor”. In Germany, today many small
8
In the case of “Others” we could not identify the faculty because no typical differentiation between faculties
existed at the HEI.
9
We obtained the figures on “specialization” directly from the FGF (current survey). Note that we included only
those chairs which are actively operating, not those that are planned or vacant. The categories as listed in the
chart were given in the FGF questionnaire. Multiple answers were possible.
Other

and medium sized firms face increasing difficulties in finding adequate successors for the
firm – possibly a reason for the relatively high priority. Interestingly, the topic of
“intrapreneurship” has been mentioned by every second chair as a field they focus on.
Figure 4 Specialization of the entrepreneurship chairs in Germany
Entrepreneurship, general
Innovative start-ups
Finance
Take over, successor
Technology oriented start-ups
Venture capital, Business Angels
Marketing
Others
Intrapreneurship
SME
Family business
Psychology of start-ups
Corporate venturing
Women
Micro orientation
Macro orientation
9
20
26
28
30
39
46
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Source of data: FGF, calculation of the IWH; figures refer to the 49 HEI included in the IWH survey.
The target group of entrepreneurial education can be different from the chairs’ perspective.
By target group we distinguish “future entrepreneurs” and “future entrepreneurship
researchers” as addressees. 10 The vast majority of entrepreneurship chairs state that they
intend to educate both, future entrepreneurs as well as future entrepreneurship researchers. 11
chairs said that they focus on entrepreneurs only, and 8 chairs primarily focus on the
education of future entrepreneurship researchers.
10 We obtained this data directly from the FGF (as information from their own 2006/2007 survey).
50
52
54
57
59
61
65
74
91
7

3. Courses on entrepreneurial education at German HEI
In this chapter we focus on entrepreneurship related courses offered by the professors of
entrepreneurship. This excludes courses on entrepreneurship offered by other professors
(chairs of entrepreneurship), i.e. the real magnitude of entrepreneurial education is somehow
underestimated here. Overall, the HEI included in the survey offer 250 entrepreneurship
courses throughout an academic year (summer and winter term). 11 The number of courses
given by each chair varies strongly (between 1 and 15), of course depending on the size of the
team. On average, each chair offers 4,8 courses.
The courses naturally vary in their time scope. In the German higher education system, this is
usually expressed as “Semesterwochenstunden” (SWS), which means teaching hours per
week during the semester. Mostly, a lecture or a seminar in Germany is given with two SWS,
sometimes combined with an exercise course lasting additional two SWS. The majority of
entrepreneurship courses in our survey is given with two SWS (56% of all courses). However,
there is also a number of courses which last four SWS (16.8%). The others are taught with 1
or 3 SWS or as so-called “block seminar”. “Block” means that the course is not given weekly
but conducted intensively over a small number of days, often on weekends.
Naturally, there are different types of instruction. We identified “lectures” which are usually
designed for larger groups of students and allow little interaction among participants. There
are “seminars” which usually require the active participation of students, e.g. in the form of
student presentations, group discussions or team work. Furthermore, there are “exercise
courses” where theoretical knowledge is applied against real-life situations, and finally there
exist combinations out of these types of instruction. Regarding entrepreneurship education,
the two most prominent types are lectures and seminars, which together make up for around
75.2% of all courses.
Figure 5 Types of instruction
Types of instruction
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Lectures 97 38,8%
Seminars 91 36,4%
Exercise courses 19 7,6%
Combinations thereof 21 8,4%
Others 10 4,0%
Not announced 12 4,8%
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
Total 250 100,0% 0,0%
Percentage
Type of Instruction
Lectures
Seminars
8
Exercise course
Combinations
Other
Not announced
11
Courses given by the chairs which deal with other topics (such as innovation management and management in
general) were not included in the analysis.

The courses have different target groups with respect to the student’s stage of academic
career (advancement). So far, the German university system distinguished between
“Grundstudium” (basic study, usually lasting the first four semesters) and “Hauptstudium”
(advanced study, usually lasting further 5 to 6 semesters). After 9 to 10 semesters the degree
of “Diplom” or “Magister” is awarded. Today, the differentiation between “Grund- /
Hauptstudium” and the relevant degrees are only valid for programs which have not yet been
transformed into the Bachelor or Master system. Over time, all traditional “Diplom” and
“Magister” programs will phase out in favor of Bachelor and Master programs (as agreed in
the Bologna process in 1999). The implementation of the new programs is an ongoing process
in Germany, and universities still have students enrolled in the old as well as in the new
programs. Accordingly, for the courses included in our survey we found different
announcements as regards the target group (“Grundstudium”, “Hauptstudium”, Bachelor,
Master, and combinations). What is clearly visible form the data collected is that the
entrepreneurship courses are predominantly offered for advanced students; 46.4% have
explicitly been announced for the “Hauptstudium”. 12
Figure 6 Target groups of entrepreneurship courses
Target groups
in respect of academic advancement
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Hauptstudium 116 46,4%
Bachelor 20 8,0%
Master 11 4,4%
Grundstudium 8 3,2%
MBA 5 2,0%
Combination 73 29,2%
Not announced 17 6,8%
Total 250 100,0%
Percentage
50,0%
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Target Group
9
Hauptstudium
Bachelor
Master
Grundstudium
MBA
Combination
Not announced
In account with the fact that the majority of entrepreneurship chairs belong to economics
departments, the vast majority of courses (86.4%) fall into the category “social sciences,
economics or law studies”. A much smaller number of courses is offered in the natural
sciences and engineering although the potential for start-ups are particularly high in these
fields. However, we do not know how many students form engineering or natural sciences
interested in an entrepreneurial activity join courses in the economics or social sciences
departments.
12 A PhD study program, comparable for example to the American system, does not exist in Germany.

Figure 7 Academic categories of entrepreneurship courses
Academic categories
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Social sciences, economics or law studies 216 86,4%
Natural sciences and engineering (including computer engineering) 23 9,2%
Other 11 4,4%
Total 250 100,0%
In order to get some insight into the content of the courses, we went through the titles and
brief descriptions of all 250 courses, identified groups of related topics and build several
categories accordingly. Afterwards, we assigned courses to these categories
correspondingly. 13
It shows that most courses fall into the group “Introduction to Entrepreneurship/Fundamentals
of Entrepreneurship” (38%). This corresponds to the high priority of “entrepreneurship,
general” expressed as a field of interest by the entrepreneurship chairs (see Figure 4). The
second largest group consists of courses dealing with “business plan development” (26.4%),
including the topic of business simulation. Some courses offer deeper insights into particular
aspects related to entrepreneurship, such as “entrepreneurial finance” (9.6%), “legal aspects”
(4.4%), “marketing” (2%). Another group of courses deals with “soft skills” explicitly related
to entrepreneurial activities (8.4%). In the category “other topics” fall courses on e.g.
intrapreneurship, entrepreneurial HR management, entrepreneurial growth management and
internationalization.
As regards the science-industry relations as part of the teaching program, we found only five
courses dealing explicitly with the topic “commercialization of knowledge and/or
innovation”. The course titles are e.g. “IPR and patenting”, “Spin-offs from public research”,
“HEI as an incubator for entrepreneurial activity”. However, one cannot exclude that aspects
like patenting, joint science-industry projects etc. are also part of other courses.
13 In face of the fact that we found as much as 250 courses, it was impossible to go through the detailed course
descriptions or schedules themselves.
10

Figure 8 Content of entrepreneurship courses
Content of the course
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Principles of Entrepreneurship
40,0%
(Introductory courses) 95 38,0%
35,0%
Business plan development 66 26,4%
30,0%
Entrepreneurial finance
Soft skills
24
21
9,6%
8,4%
25,0%
Legal aspects 11 4,4%
20,0%
Commercialisation 5 2,0%
15,0%
Marketing
Other topics
5
23
2,0%
9,2%
10,0%
5,0%
Total 250 100,0% 0,0%
Percentage
Content
4. Entrepreneurial education and the science-industry link
11
Principles of
Entrepreneurship
Business plan
development
Entrepreneurial finance
Soft skills
Legal aspects
Commercialization
Marketing
Other topics
According to § 2 (7) of the “Hochschulrahmengesetz” (Framework Law on Higher Education)
in Germany, the HEI have explicitly the task to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and
technology. As a result, many HEI set up special infrastructure, e.g. technology transfer
offices, to support the exchange between HEI and industry. In the context of technology
transfer or more broadly speaking the science-industry relations, entrepreneurship activities of
the HEI, are one way to facilitate the transfer of knowledge or technology form the HEI to
industry.
4.1. Commercialization and entrepreneurship in the HEI mission statements
In a first step, we looked at the mission statements of all HEI in our sample (taken form the
internet pages) and analyzed whether (a) commercialization of knowledge in general and (b)
entrepreneurship activities in particular are mentioned as one of the HEI missions in the text.
In other words, we analyzed whether science-industry relations play a role in the “strategic”
concept or self-image of the HEI. 14 We found that 40 out of the 49 HEI mentioned (one way
or another) commercialization of knowledge in their mission statements, and 15 out of 49 HEI
– nearly every third HEI – explicitly mentioned entrepreneurship as a mission of the HEI.
14 We took the mission statements form the HEIs’ internet pages. They were usually very easily accessible,
called profile, mission statement, overall concept etc.

Figure 9 Commercialization and entrepreneurship reference in HEI mission statements
Explicit reference to commercialization of knowledge (e.g. industry cooperation, technology transfer etc.)
in university's (HEI's) mission statement
Frequency Percentage
Yes 40 81,6%
No 9 18,4%
Total 49 100,0%
Explicit reference to entrepreneurship in university's (HEI's) mission statement
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Yes 15 30,6%
No 34 69,4%
Total 49 100,0%
Percentage
Percentage
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Commercialization of
Knowledge
Entrepreneurship
4.2. Infrastructure and services of the HEI for knowledge commercialization
Second, we analyzed the infrastructure of the HEI for the commercialization of scientific
knowledge. Initially, we looked at the internet pages in search for information on any
“commercialization infrastructure”. Through this explorative procedure, we categorized the
different facilities accordingly.
As regards infrastructure facilities, we distinguish “technology transfer offices”,
“incubators”, and “science parks”.
The HEI offer different (information) services with respect to commercialization, usually
through the above mentioned facilities. In our survey we also collected data on whether the
HEI offers “entrepreneurship consulting” (Gründungsberatung) and “patenting information
service” (Patentberatung).
Infrastructure facilities:
The vast majority of HEI in our survey have a technology transfer office. In general, there is
no final definition of technology transfer office in the literature. We define them as an
information center or helpdesk providing services around commercialization activities of the
HEI in general (patenting, innovative start-ups / spin-offs, industry cooperation etc.). They are
usually named technology transfer office or technology transfer center, sometimes other terms
exist at the relevant HEI. We identified 42 HEI with a technology transfer office in the above
described sense (86%). The six HEI without a technology transfer office are mostly small
12
No
Yes
No
Yes

HEI, especially small private schools (and the open university - Fernuniversität Hagen). In
these cases, the absence of a technology transfer offices is of course a matter of size and
demand. 15
Less HEI have incubator facilities. The general idea of an incubator is to offer promising
entrepreneurs particular support in an early stage of their start-up activity. The support usually
includes the provision of physical space (rooms, labs), management coaching, help assistance
in making an effective business plan, administrative services, technical support, business
networking, advice on intellectual property rights, and sources of financing. Incubators can
differ as regards the scope of support, as regards the target group (people with advanced
business plans or pre-entrepreneurial ideas), and as regards location (integrated in the HEI
buildings or in an affiliated science park etc.). In our survey we did not differentiate between
such differences of incubators. We identified any facility as an incubator that corresponds to
the general definition outlined above. Finally, we found that 19 HEI in our sample offer
incubator facilities.
The definition of a science park is not entirely clear, but typically firms and other
organizations in the parks focus on product development and innovation in high-tech branches
(different from industrial parks where firms focus on manufacturing). Science parks are
usually associated with or operated by institutions of higher education. They can also be
called technology or research park (in German: Wissenschafts- oder Technologiepark). In our
sample, we found nine HEI that are affiliated with or run their own science park.
Services:
Often the technology transfer office is in charge of providing entrepreneurial counseling
(Gründungsberatung) for the members of the HEI, also and especially in the early stage
(brainstorming). The absence of a technology transfer office does, however, not mean that
there is no counseling service on entrepreneurial activities etc. If we look at the provision of
entrepreneurial counseling (Gründungsberatung), we see that some of the HEI without a
technology transfer office offer entrepreneurial counseling anyway, often by the
entrepreneurship chair. In total, 41 HEI do explicitly offer entrepreneurship counseling.
21 HEI engage in patenting information services. Information and services around patenting
have strongly increased in Germany after the change of the so-called “professor privilege” in
2002. Since 2002, university scientists are no more exclusive owner of their inventions
(patents). They now have to announce all their inventions at the university, which in turn
checks whether the university want to file a patent application, and if so, returns
predominantly go to the HEI (only a certain part for the scientist). After the abolishment of
the “professor privilege”, patenting became a much stronger topic at German HEI.
15 For one HEI, no information is available on commercialization infrastructure.
13

Overall, the technical universities are very active with respect to knowledge
commercialization. The four technical universities in our survey, TU Dresden, TU Darmstadt,
TU München, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), possess a technology transfer office,
entrepreneurship and patenting counseling, as well as incubator and science park facilities.
They are large universities specialized in engineering, natural sciences and / or information
science, usually plus economics (industrial engineering and management) and some other
social sciences and / or humanities.
4.3. Co-operation (chairs – infrastructure) and financing of “Gründungsberatung”
In a further step, we identified the offices mainly responsible for entrepreneurship services
(often the technology transfer office) at each HEI in our survey for further qualitative
inquiries on the science-industry link.
Via Email or phone, we endeavored to collect the following information:
- Number of start-ups
- Co-operation between infrastructure facilities and entrepreneurship chair
- Financing of the entrepreneurship services
After a number of inquiries, it showed that it is not possible to clearly identify the number of
start-ups. Only very few offices were able to provide (more or less) reliable numbers. Many
offices do not document the start-ups, and if they do so, nobody knows the “real” number of
start-ups since the offices do not always get a feedback after providing services to potential
entrepreneurs. So we had to exclude such data from our survey.
The question on co-operation between the provider of entrepreneurship counseling (in many
cases the technology transfer offices) and the entrepreneurship chair, was easier to answer
(nevertheless we have missing values for 14 HEI). Two HEI indicate a lack of co-operation.
In 17 HEI the entrepreneurship chair co-operates with the entrepreneurship counseling, and in
16 HEI, the entrepreneurship chair itself is the provider of entrepreneurship counseling.
14

Figure 10 Cooperation between entrepreneurship counseling providers and chairs
Cooperation between entrepreneurship counseling providers and entrepreneurship chairs
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Cooperation 17 34,7%
Chair itself
provides counceling 16 32,7%
Lack of cooperation 2 4,1%
Not announced 14 28,6%
Total 49 100,0%
Percentage
40,0%
30,0%
20,0%
10,0%
0,0%
Cooperation between counseling
providers and chairs
Cooperation
Chair provides
counceling
15
Lack of cooperation
Not announced
As regards the financing for entrepreneurship counseling at the HEI, we found out that in
most cases the services are financed through public means (12), resources of the HEI (7) or a
combination out of the two (9). Other means are private resources (from companies, private
persons etc.) or the “Stiftungslehrstuhl”, that means the entrepreneurship chair is financed
through a donation.
Figure 11 Means of financing for entrepreneurship counseling at HEIs
Financing for entrepreneurship counseling
Source: IWH
Frequency Percentage
Public means 12 24,5%
HEI resources 7 14,3%
Private funds 5 10,2%
Stiftungslehrstuhl 3 6,1%
Combination: HEI resources
& public means 9 18,4%
Combination: public means
& private funds 1 2,0%
Combination: HEI resources
& Stiftungslehrstuhl 1 2,0%
Combination: private funds,
HEI resources &
public means 1 2,0%
Not announced 10 20,4%
Total 49 100,0%
Percentage
30,0%
25,0%
20,0%
15,0%
10,0%
5,0%
0,0%
Means of Financing
Public means
HEI resources
Private funds
Stiftungslehrstuhl
Combination: HEI +
public
Combination: public +
private
Combination: HEI +
Stiftungslehrstuhl
Combination: private +
HEI + public
Not announced

5. Special topic: East Germany
12 HEI in our data set are located in East Germany (36 in the Western part of the country). 16
They have one entrepreneurship chairs each. Among these 12 HEI are three large universities
(Humboldt University Berlin, Potsdam University, Magdeburg University), one technical
university (Dresden), and eight universities of applied sciences. They are all public HEI.
The majority of HEI with entrepreneurial education in Eastern Germany was founded after
1990 (10 HEI). Only two HEI (Humboldt University Berlin and TU Dresden) are much older,
founded already in the 19th century.
Compared to the Western part of Germany, the number of entrepreneurship chairs in East
Germany is relatively high, that means a ratio of 1:3. However, there is are of course
differences in size between the tow regions. But if we take into account the overall number of
chairs, the ratio between East and West Germany is 1:5. 17
6. Case studies
In this chapter we present three selected HEI in order to provide some in depth insight in how
the entrepreneurial education evolved and how it is institutionalized so far. Criterions for
selection were: region (East and West Germany), type of HEI (university and university of
applied sciences). The two universities among our cases were among the top universities in
the biannual ranking of universities with entrepreneurial education carried out by the
University of Regensburg. 18
6.1. Leuphana University Lüneburg
The Leuphana University Lüneburg in Lüneburg, Germany, represents a model-university for
the implementation of the Bologna process and operates since May 2007 under respective
name. At present, the university hosts around 10,000 students at three faculties and about 675
employees. The institution, which may also be referred to in brief as Leuphana, experienced
in the course of time notable developments to become the university it is today.
16
We define East Germany as the territory of the former GDR, i.e. the five Neue Länder plus the Eastern part of
Berlin.
17
According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, the total number of chairs (professors) accounts for
6,748 in Eastern Germany and 31,117 in Western Germany. Source: Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 11, R
4.4, 2005.
18 The ranking includes only universities, no universities of applied sciences. See Schmude, Uebelacker (2005)
„Vom Studenten zum Unternehmer: Welche Universität bietet die besten Chancen?“ Ranking 2005. Universität
Regensburg, Wirtschaftsgeographie und Tourismusforschung.
16

The university was originally founded in 1946 as college for education on initiative of the
British. Precisely, the British pursued a policy to contribute by means of teacher training to
the creation of a new democratic tradition in Germany. In 1978 the institute of education of
the Federal State of Lower Saxony became an independent university, authorized to award
academic doctorate and postdoctoral degrees. In the year of 1989, the institution was renamed
from PH Lüneburg to form the University Lüneburg. Later, Lower Saxony’s state government
decided to merge the university with the University of Applied Science Nordostniedersachsen
in effort to establish a single and full-encompassing institution of higher education for the city
of Lüneburg. Both institutions were joined as of 2005 and operated under the university’s
name, University of Lüneburg. The thereby established institution serves particularly as
model-university for the Bologna implementation. Recently, the university experienced a
further renaming to the abovementioned name Leuphana accompanied by a far-reaching
realignment of the institution, its study model and lecturing. In particular, as of October 2007
an innovative undergraduate program leading to the Leuphana Bachelor is offered at the
newly created Leuphana College. In brief, the College arranges the Leuphana Bachelor
according to 11 thematic focus areas, which may be selected as Major, and are either
complemented or accentuated by an individually chosen Minor allowing for traditional as
well as exceptional study profiles. On top, all students are educated within a Leuphana
semester in concern of scientific attitude as well as methodology. In the framework of the
mandatory complementary-studies, multidisciplinary thinking as well as competences beyond
particular expertise shall be developed and encouraged. The Graduate College, offering
Master and Doctorate programs, and a Professional School providing further educating
courses of study will complement the Leuphana College in the near future.
Besides, the university occupies since 2002 a chair for entrepreneurship, which has in the
meantime been highly appraised by rankings of entrepreneurial education chairs. Particularly,
the prominent ranking of the University of Regensburg 19 placed the chair on the top position
in 2005 and in the top fifteen in 2003.
The Chair
The chair for entrepreneurship (“Stiftungslehrstuhl für Gründungsmanagement”) at the
Leuphana University Lüneburg is as abovementioned occupied since 2002. Yet, such
professorship was envisioned early before. Already in the end of the 1990s, the Sparkasse
19
Cp. Schmude, Uebelacker (2005) „Vom Studenten zum Unternehmer: Welche Universität bietet die besten
Chancen?“ Ranking 2005. Universität Regensburg, Wirtschaftsgeographie und Tourismusforschung., p. 44.
17

Lüneburg and a consortium of twenty regional companies, among them famous businesses
such as the Volkswagen AG, Volksbank Lüneburg, or IHK Lüneburg-Wolfsburg, decided to
sponsor a professorship. Indeed, the initial objective was to found a single chair responsible
for the entrepreneurial education of the university as well as the nearby university of applied
sciences Nordostniedersachsen, which was however discarded. Instead, it was agreed upon a
close cooperation in regard to educational matters. However, in the year of 2005 both
institutions of higher education were merged as aforesaid to form a single body, the
University Lüneburg. In particular, the consortium of sponsors decided to grant financial
resources with the purpose of financing the professor’s staff for a period of five years. To be
precise, 753,000 Euro were made available to pay for three positions comprising research
assistants and a secretariat. After that time period, the university is expected to take over the
financing. The position of the professor as such should be financed by public means of the
federal state of Lower Saxony.
Whilst, the sponsors’ early financial involvement was of a fairly moderate degree, the
magnitude of financing appreciated gradually in response to the chairs ascending reputation.
First and foremost, the chairs’ excellent appraisal in the prominent ranking of the University
of Regensburg of entrepreneurship chairs in 2003, overall the eleventh place, and its overall
first place in 2005 contributed significantly to that development. 20 To be more specific, the
ranking evaluates on the basis of multiple criteria the excellence of universities in educating
students to become an entrepreneur. While the professorship itself is in general remunerated
by funds of the state of Lower Saxony, the sponsor’s financing period for the staff will expire
in October of this year. There is however hope that the Leuphana University will make funds
available to allow for the continuance of the chair and its work.
After the university accepted the initial idea of a chair for entrepreneurship, an appointment
commission was set up. Due to the fact that the aim of the funding firms was a close
collaboration of the two institutes of higher education of the region, this commission included
personnel from both institutions. Moreover, the sponsors insisted on their participation in the
decision process and were thus, present in the commission, too. Ultimately, the current chair
holder, a graduate in Business Economics of the University Dortmund, was chosen. The
professor undertook his PhD at the Open University in Hagen, after several years of
employment in controlling and planning departments at a big industrial firm. Subsequently to
20
Cp. Schmude, Uebelacker (2005) „Vom Studenten zum Unternehmer: Welche Universität bietet die besten
Chancen?“ Ranking 2005. Universität Regensburg, Wirtschaftsgeographie und Tourismusforschung., p. 44.
18

working as director at the Business Administration Institute of Empirical Research into
Foundation and Organisation (short: bifego) in Dortmund, the chair head habilitated in 2002
at the University of Dortmund about aspects of the early development of firms. Shortly after
finishing his habilitation paper, he was appointed professor at the Leuphana University
Lüneburg and works there since. Here, the professor researches in the area of the creation of
firm, with particular focus on the genesis of businesses, besides other interests in
entrepreneurial consulting and planning. The staff focuses on marketing for entrepreneurs and
on decision making in entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurial Education
As aforementioned, the chair is located at the Faculty of Business Economics at the Leuphana
University Lüneburg. However, the offered courses are also available for students of other
subjects. In fact, all Bachelor students at the Leuphana University Lüneburg are obliged to
participate in an introductory business course, where entrepreneurship is part of the lecture
content. The chair offers a number of lectures and seminars and among these there are
theoretical courses as well as practical seminars in which students learn how to write a
business plan. A brief overview of current offer of courses is depicted below.
19

Figure 12 Entrepreneurial Courses of the Leuphana University Lüneburg
Entrepreneurial Courses of the Leuphana Univesity Lüneburg
Name Typ Audience Semester hours
per week
Start-Up Management I Lecture Main Course 2
(Gründungsmanagement I)
Start-Up Management II Lecture Main Course 2
(Gründungsmanagement II)
Enterprises in the Market Economy:
Emergence and Design of Business Enterprises
(Unternehmen in der Marktwirtschaft: Entstehung
und Gestalt von Wirtschaftsunternehmen)
Lecture not announced 2
Entrepreneurship for Non-Economists Seminar not announced 2
(Existenzgründung für Nichtökonomen)
Start-Up Consulting Seminar Main Course 2
(Gründungsberatung)
Project: Start-Up Management Seminar Main Course 2
(Projektseminar Gründungsmanagement)
Simulation of Start-Ups Seminar not announced 2
(Planspiel zur Existenzgründung)
Start-Up Planning Seminar Main Course 2
(Gründungsplanung)
Start-Up Management I Exercise Main Course 1
(Gründungsmanagement I)
Start-Up Management II Exercise Main Course 1
(Gründungsmanagement II)
Source: IWH
The course “Existenzgründung für Nichtökonomen” (Entrepreneurship for Non-Economists)
is of particular importance as it approaches students of environmental science, cultural science
and future engineers about their career prospects of being self-employed. Thus, not only
students of Business Economics are educated about entrepreneurship, but also the attention of
students of technical fields is drawn to the idea of starting their own business. Clearly, the
teaching of the chair aims at raising the issue of entrepreneurship throughout the university.
The chair does not only aspire to convince and enable students to start up their own business
but also wants to educate the students in theoretical backgrounds in order to enable them to
potentially pursue an academic career in the field of entrepreneurship.
20

Infrastructure in support of Entrepreneurial Activities
Although entrepreneurial activities are not explicitly mentioned as a goal in the mission
statement of the university, in practice, the university has clearly engaged upon a policy of
encouraging students to become entrepreneurs. In more general terms, the Leuphana
University explicitly supports the commercialization of knowledge (technology transfer from
science to industry). There exists, for example, a technology transfer office and incubator
facilities, and naturally the entrepreneurial activities at the university benefit therefrom.
The Leuphana University offers not only entrepreneurial consulting but also incubators
(“Gründungslabor”) for former students and university employees. Moreover, an innovation
center enabling newly established firms to prosper is in place as well. It is important to note
that the “Gründungslabor” is a third party project. In fact, 45% of the funds come from the
European Social Fund and the remaining 55% of funds are contributed by the chairs’
sponsors. Two years after the establishment of the chair for entrepreneurship, this separate
institution for counseling potential entrepreneurs was developed. The directorate of the
“Gründungslabor” is formed by two persons: the university’s professor for entrepreneurship
as academic director plus a managing director. Consequently, the professor for
entrepreneurship sees his role as making students aware of the possibility to be self-employed
and eventually concrete ideas are realized with the assistance of the “Gründungslabor”.
Hence, the chair and the entrepreneurial consultancy work together such as a tandem. With
the establishing of the “Gründungslabor”, the university’s science-industry link was
promoted and the effectiveness of the entrepreneurship chair strengthened. Clearly, also the
fusion of the university with the university of applied sciences aides in this matter as a range
of technical studies are now offered at the Leuphana University Lüneburg.
Typically, students develop a business idea in one of the courses given by the chair for
entrepreneurship and are then directed to the “Gründungslabor”. Here, they have the
possibility to attend events informing about certain aspects of entrepreneurship in the form of
a workshop. Thereafter, there is the possibility for counseling meetings. Most of the time,
students are then invited once more for further and more detailed meetings in which the
business plan is being discussed. For special questions, students are then referred to
specialists on taxes, patent law or the legal organizational forms. For this matter, the
entrepreneurship center has a broad network for collaboration (e.g. experienced entrepreneurs
of the region, business associations, chambers of commerce and industry, Sparkassen,
attorneys etc.) and on whose expertise the students can draw. Due to the fact that sponsors
from Lüneburg initiated the chair, the regions feedback to this new initiative has been good.
21

Since its initiation in 2004, 25 to 30 start-up projects have been realized through the
„Gründungslabor“, i.e. the entrepreneurship chair in conjunction with the facilities of the
latter, for example in the field of corporate planning. While the matter of entrepreneurship has
been widely dispersed and accepted by students, the pre-incubator of the “Gründungslabor”
has not been as widely accepted. Thus, entrepreneurs ignore and miss the opportunity to learn
from other entrepreneurs. Particularly, this aspect as well as its own funding are points the
entrepreneurship centre wants to address in the future. Additionally, there is the hope to
collaborate with other universities and to encourage research assistants and professors to
become entrepreneurs.
Lately, the University Leuphana Lüneburg has undergone substantial restructuring, initiated
by their new president. Both, the chair and the Gründungslabor now hope that their position
and role in the university will remain the strong.
6.2. University of Potsdam
One of the youngest academic institutions in Germany is domiciled in the city of Potsdam, the
University of Potsdam. The university was founded in 1991 and represents at present the
largest institution of higher education in the State of Brandenburg. In fact, the university hosts
about 17,000 students and occupies around 250 professors, an academic staff of around 600
people, as well as non-academic personnel of around 720 persons. In ambition of a classical
university design, the University of Potsdam was founded in 1991 with a number of five
faculties. In particular, the university, which is spatially spread throughout the city of
Potsdam, consists of the Schools of Philosophy, Law, Economics and Social Sciences,
Humanities as well as Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Besides, the University of Potsdam
incorporated upon its foundation two educational institutions of the former German
Democratic Republic (GDR), to be precise the former College of Education in Potsdam and
the Law Department of the Academy of National Law and Jurisprudence in Babelsberg.
At the outset of the century, the university declared its aspiration to be in the fore of both,
national and international competition for students and research funding. In pursuit of the
aimed forefront position, the university dedicated a variety of efforts to develop a clear visible
university profile. Following a recommendation of the Council of Science and further
deliberations on the institute’s structure, the University of Potsdam concentrates on few
particular fields of research. To be precise, the focus is laid on eight different fields of
research, which are for most part interdisciplinary and comprise Geosciences, Life Sciences,
22

Cognitive Science, and five special areas of concentration. The latter areas contain 'Complex
Systems', 'The Comparison of Cultures', 'Soft Mater', 'Economy - Institutions - Administration'
as well as 'Potsdam Model of Teacher Training' from the field of Education. Moreover, the
institute endeavours close cooperation with extramural research facilities as well as high-tech
companies, which shall foster the competitive advantage of the university additionally,
particularly for the future. Accordingly, each faculty is keen on networking with various
facilities, ranging from extramural research, teaching, and politics to the economy. As result
thereof, the University of Potsdam can refer more and more to collaborative projects with
extramural research facilities. Most protruding so far might be the resulting creations of joint
institutes and joint professorial chairs.
Furthermore, the University of Potsdam occupies as of the year 2004 a professorship for the
entrepreneurial education of its students. In the prominent appraisal of the University of
Regensburg of the year 2005, the University of Potsdam finished second in the overall
ranking. 21
The Chair
Since 2004, the University of Potsdam holds a professorship chair for “Innovative
Entrepreneurship and Medium-sized Business Development” (Stiftungsprofessur der
Mittelbrandenburgischen Sparkasse in Potsdam für Innovative Existenzgründungen und
Mittelstandsentwicklung). The chair, which is domiciled at the Faculty of Economics and
Social Sciences, is sponsored by the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse until the year 2009.
The appointment commission concluded for the professorship in favour of the current chair
holder. Apart from the appointment to the chair of entrepreneurship, the designated professor
is a member of the board of directors of the BIEM-CEIP, that is the Centre for
Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University Potsdam (“Centrum für Entrepreneurship
und Innovation der Universität Potsdam”). Beyond, the current chair holder took up the
position of the managing director of the Brandenburg Institute for Entrepreneurship and Midsized
Business Development (“Brandenburgischen Instituts für Existenzgründung und
Mittelstandsförderung”) as of 2006 and acts in the same position for the BIEM e.V.
comprising all institutes of higher education of the State of Brandenburg.
21
Cp. Schmude, Uebelacker (2005) „Vom Studenten zum Unternehmer: Welche Universität bietet die besten
Chancen?“ Ranking 2005. Universität Regensburg, Wirtschaftsgeographie und Tourismusforschung., p. 44.
23

In particular, the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University Potsdam
(BIEM-CEIP) encompasses the chairs of Entrepreneurship and the chair for Organization and
Human Resource Management (“Organisation und Personalwesen”). Besides, the BIEM-
CEIP represents a subsidiary of the BIEM at the University of Potsdam. From an
organizational point of view, the BIEM-CEIP may be regarded as a research institute.
Funding is provided by the State of Brandenburg, by the Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF) and by third party projects. As there is no long-term financing, the research
outlook of the BIEM-CEIP is naturally focused on projects, which of course is impacting in
turn its staffing and organization. Another important aspect of the BIEM-CEIP is the
counseling for potential entrepreneurs. While a number of students approach the institute,
there is also the incidence of good business ideas generated during a seminar. After an initial
discussion about the project, an individual analysis of the required funding and potential
sources thereof is produced. Naturally, the counselors and the chair holder have a wide
network at their disposal on which they can refer and to which potential entrepreneurs can
turn with specific questions. Moreover, the BIEM is a virtual consortium of the University of
Potsdam, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam and the Brandenburg University of
Applied Sciences. Together these HEIs try to promote entrepreneurship in their respective
higher education institutes and to leverage on synergies arising from the coordination of
projects. This consortium exists since 2003 and has expanded into the BIEM e.V., which
comprises all existing higher education institutes of Brandenburg.
The current professor studied Business Administration and Economics at the University of
Hamburg. Later in his career he worked as research project director (“wissenschaftlicher
Projektleiter”) at the Fraunhofer Institute for the Systems and Innovation Research ISI, where
the professor was promoted to a Member of the Board of Directors (“Mitglied des Institut-
Leitungsausschuß”). Before his appointment to the University of Potsdam the chair head, was
Professor for Business Administration and Management of Innovation at the Brandenburg
University of Applied Sciences. Accordingly, his research interests lie in the management of
innovation and technology, entrepreneurship and mid-sized business development. Yet, also
high-tech business ventures operated by women and how these undertakings might differ
from ventures run by men are being researched under the professors’ auspices. The primary
aspiration hereby is to provide some recommendations in respect of how to motivate women
to start up a business in the high-tech sector.
24

Entrepreneurial Education
The chair teaches a number of courses with different foci. An overview of the course offer of
the University of Potsdam is provided below.
Figure 13 Entrepreneurial Courses of the University Potsdam
Entrepreneurial Courses of the Univesity Potsdam
Name Typ Audience Semester hours
per week
Entrepreneurship Lecture Main Course 2
(Unternehmungsgründung)
Current Research Topics of
Start-Up and Innovation Management
(Neue Forschungsthemen des Gründungsund
Innovationsmanagement)
Seminar Main Course Block
Business Plan Exercise Main Course 2
(Businessplan)
Firm Project: Organisation and Personnel
(Übungsfirma/Projektseminar:
Organisation und Personal)
Exercise Main Course 2
Entrepreneurship and Business Plan Combination Main Course 4
(Entrepreneurship und Businessplan)
Creativity Techniques and Brainstorming Combination Master 2
(Kreativtechniken/ Ideenwerkstatt)
IPR and Patent Management Combination Master 2
(IPR/Patentmanagement)
Source: IWH
The introductory course of “Entrepreneurship and Business Plan” introduces students to the
thematic field and explains the development of a business plan. Further courses introduce
students to either the financing of start-ups, guerilla marketing or internationalization.
Throughout the curriculum, the Entrepreneurship chair is keen to convoy notions of bonus
systems, organizational culture and motivation as a way to introduce intrapreneurship in
companies. There is also the possibility for students to take part in an Assessment Center to
scrutinize whether or not they have an entrepreneurial mindset. Within the postgraduate
program of Business Administration in biotechnology and medical technology (MBA
BioMedTech), of which the professor is the managing director, the course Management of
Patents is offered. Here, the key qualifications for graduates of natural sciences are taught.
25

The BIEM-CEIP can refer to a number of achievements such as the good positioning in the
ranking about the most attractive university for student entrepreneurs by the University of
Regensburg 22 . Moreover, the BIEM-CEIP was actively involved in the Business plan
competition of the State of Brandenburg and was able to win the first place. 23 There are also a
number of third party projects which the BIEM-CEIP attracted and completed. This was
achieved albeit the fact that the University of Potsdam is not a campus university which
makes it more difficult to reach for the entirety of students. Additionally, the faculties are
separated from each other and real networking has so far only taken place to a limited degree.
Due to a lack of contact to students of natural sciences and informatics there has been a lack
of multidisciplinary teaching and business ventures. This is going to change in the near future
though as the introduction of the Bachelor/Master structure leads students to acquire key
qualifications, one of them is entrepreneurial knowledge and thinking. Only then, can the
successful technology transfer and the Entrepreneurship Centre show its real potential.
6.3. FH Bonn-Rhein Sieg
The University of Applied Science Bonn-Rhein-Sieg was founded by the state of North
Rhine-Westphalia in 1995 and presently, hosts a number of roughly 5,000 students and 120
professors. Essentially, the institute is a constituent element of the particular agreement over
compensation measures for the region of Bonn and therefore, faces special objectives. Crucial
assignments of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg university are besides, the provision of higher
educational schooling, the supporting and promotion of the structural development of the
region. Indeed, the institution shall actively contribute in cooperation with the economy to the
economic prospering of the area.
In the founding years, the institute operated under the name of its principal location in Sankt
Augustin, and administered further facilities in the city of Rheinbach on the other bank of the
Rhine. Whereas the institute provided in the start merely one course of study in economics,
the university progressed rapidly in the meantime. In various efforts, the university
augmented both, the number of available courses of study and its capacities of room and
available student places. In the year of 2000, the institute was renamed to form the current
University of Applied Science Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. Presently, there are as much as 15 courses
22
Cp. Schmude, Uebelacker (2005) „Vom Studenten zum Unternehmer: Welche Universität bietet die besten
Chancen?“ Ranking 2005. Universität Regensburg, Wirtschaftsgeographie und Tourismusforschung., p. 44.
23 See BIEM CEIP of the University of Potsdam, http://www.uni-potsdam.de/db/biemceip/cms/index.php?id=78
26

of study offered in the academic fields of Business Administration, Informatics, Engineering,
Applied Natural Sciences or Social Security. Furthermore, the various university facilities are
currently domiciled at three locations, in the two above-named cities and Hennef (Sieg).
As of the year 2005, the University of Applied Science Bonn-Rhein-Sieg occupies a chair for
the entrepreneurial education of its students.
The Chair
The idea for a professorship for Entrepreneurship at the University of Applied Science Bonn-
Rhein-Sieg is attributable to an initiative of the Kreissparkasse Köln and emerged in the year
2003. In fact, the created chair is indefinitely funded by the Kreissparkasse Köln. After an
announcement in the German newspaper “Die Zeit” and other publications, a commission
comprising 13 persons had to decide among 100 applications for an appointment of the
professorship. The chosen candidate started his work at the Faculty of Business Economics in
April 2005. Prior to his appointment as professor for Entrepreneurship at the University of
Applied Science Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, the named professor worked as a research associate at
both, the University of Cologne and the University of Wuppertal and besides was the cofounder
of a consulting firm. From 1999 to 2005 the chair holder held the position of
professor for Business Administration and in particular Entrepreneurship and Management at
the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.
Entrepreneurial Education
The chair focuses among other things on Intrapreneurship. Here, the primary idea is to
educate students to be generally entrepreneurial even when working in a firm. This mindset is
taught in the course “Start-Up Management” but also transcends to other courses given by the
chair. In the field of entrepreneurship, the teaching is modular. In a first course called
“Creativity and Brainstorming” (Kreativität und Ideenfindung), ideas are generated and
organized followed by a course “Market Research” (Marktforschung) that tests prior
generated ideas for its strength and operability. In the last course “Entrepreneurship: Planning
and Simulation” (Unternehmensgründung: Planung und Simulation), students are planning
for a business venture and then simulate the actual start up of a business. Although the chair
has only started its work recently, the interest in the courses is rising steadily while the
number of slots is limited to 40. Students of business science or students from natural sciences
are attending the courses offered by the chair. An overview of the available courses for the
entrepreneurial education of the institute is provided below.
27

Figure 14 Entrepreneurial Courses of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg
Entrepreneurial Courses of the Univesity of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg
Name Typ Audience Semester hours
per week
Start-Up Management Lecture not announced 2
(Gründungsmanagement)
Creativity and Brainstorming Lecture not announced 4
(Kreativität und Ideenfindung)
Entrepreneurship: Planning and Simulation
(Unternehmnungsgründung:
Planung und Simulation)
Lecture not announced 2
Market Research Lecture not announced 2
(Marktforschung)
Entrepreneurship: Planning and Simulation
(Unternehmnungsgründung:
Planung und Simulation)
Exercise not announced 2
Source: IWH
Next to teaching, it is the intention of the professor for entrepreneurship to integrate
entrepreneurship in the workings of the university overall and aspires furthermore to aid
students in starting up their own business. Thus, half of his time is devoted to actual
counseling. Particularly for the latter activity, his prior work in consulting and the then
resulting contacts help him to be of true aid. So far, five business ventures have been realized.
Additionally new contacts are being developed for instance with the German Aerospace
Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V), the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and
the Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (Caesar) in Bonn. Together with
these research institutes and firms from the area of expertise, business plans are developed
and tested. The professors first-class contacts and the support of the Kreissparkasse ensure
that the chair is greatly welcomed in the region. However, the chair has only a single
scientific employee, which naturally complicates the realization of some projects due to the
restricted capacity of personnel. Moreover, there is no real obligation for students to enroll in
courses offered by the chair. This might change in the near future with a new Bachelor in
Entrepreneurship focusing amongst other things on social entrepreneurship and succession of
family owned businesses.
Infrastructure in support of entrepreneurial activities
Although firm foundation is not explicitly mentioned in the mission statement of the
University of Applied Sciences, there is next to the chair of entrepreneurship another
28

institution focusing on the promotion of entrepreneurship namely the Business Campus Bonn-
Rhein-Sieg. This institution is a kind of mini-incubator where students can rent office space,
laboratories and conference rooms as well as receive additional operative counseling, for
example in the field of taxation and legal form. This initiative exists since 1999 and was
initially financed by the Land North-Rhine Westphalia and the University of Applied
Sciences. While the feedback to this initiative was positive, the financial burden was too high
and the initiative was thus turned into a limited liability corporation in 2004. The corporation
is now a private-public partnership between the University of Applied Sciences and the
Kreissparkasse Köln. By changing the legal status of the initiative and engaging into
collaboration with a bank, an initial weakness of the incubators was turned into a strength.
Next to financial help, the joint venture also ensures contacts and prestige.
One year after its coming into existence, the Business Campus Rhein-Sieg GmbH moved into
their new buildings on campus. Naturally, the Business Campus and the chair work together
closely as they are funded by the same bank and are able to draw on mutual networks and
corporations with businesses and research institutes alike. So far between sixty and seventy
firms were established with new projects waiting to be realized. However, the concrete
number is difficult to ascertain and the Business Campus has to rely on the students to report
back their success after leaving the incubator (students can rent rooms and the like for at most
five years). Most of the aforementioned ventures were founded while the owners were still
studying and were thus relatively small. A high share of these establishments was focused in
the service sector as this bears initially the lowest risks and leaves room for expansion. These
facts are one of the reasons for the gradual approach that most business foundations take.
Therefore, the Business Campus is an ideal partner as the counseling as well as infrastructure
offers can be intensified at any point in time. The University of Applied Science is relatively
small and has only a limited number of students in the natural sciences and informatics. Thus,
most of the students founding a firm are business students. Here, the incubator hopes for more
collaboration with outside actors and the strengthening of these fields of study. For the future,
the Business Campus hopes to act as a conduit of ideas (“Durchlauferhitzer”) for the whole
region.
29

7. Summary
Ten years after the announcement of the first entrepreneurship chair in Germany, the number
of higher education institutions (HEI) with an entrepreneurship chair has increased strongly.
In spring 2007, there are 49 HEI with together 54 actively operating professors for
entrepreneurship. This rapid increase has for large part been possible through a number of
“Stiftungsprofessuren”, that means that the newly established professorship is initially
financed externally, often through a private company, business association etc. The growing
number of “Stiftungsprofessuren” is a general expression of the trend towards closer scienceindustry
relations in Germany. The vast majority of entrepreneurship chairs in Germany
belongs to the field of economics or business administration. Only few are affiliated with
engineering or natural sciences although the possibilities for innovative start-ups are
particularly high in this field. The courses offered are mainly provided for students in an
advanced stage of their studies (Hauptstudium). They address future entrepreneurs as well as
future researchers in the field of entrepreneurship. The variety of topics dealt with in class is
large and reaches from fundamentals of entrepreneurship over marketing and finance towards
explicitly practical issues such as business plan development and training of soft skills.
The provision of entrepreneurial education, which can be seen as one channel of technology
transfer and knowledge commercialization, is usually closely connected to infrastructure
facilities in charge of academic knowledge commercialization in general, such as technology
transfer offices or incubator facilities. As shown by the case studies, the scope and variety of
infrastructure facilities is wide and individually different among HEI, particularly depending
on the scientific profile, the size, and mission of the HEI. Very often, the chair of
entrepreneurship holds a further position at the university’s infrastructure facilities for
knowledge commercialization, especially in the field of entrepreneurship consulting
(Gründungsberatung). These interconnections are particularly valuable since start-up ideas
developed by students in class can be further developed and assessed through the facilities of
Gründungsberatung and technology transfer.
In general, one can conclude that entrepreneurial education has gained much importance and
acknowledgement over the last ten year at German HEI. Many of the HEI included in the
survey explicitly mention “entrepreneurship” (Existenzgründung) in their mission statement.
In order to fulfill the legally subscribed mission of universities to become more
entrepreneurial, there seems to be a need to increase the number of entrepreneurship chairs.
Thereby, Stiftungsprofessuren will probably remain an important institution.
30

A measurable outcome of entrepreneurial education, for example in terms of number of
innovative start-ups, is so far not possible to detect. This will remain a major challenge for
future research in the field of entrepreneurial education.
31

Appendix: List of HEI included in the survey (Spring 2007)
Name of HEI Students* Type** Homepage
Hochschule für Technik und
Wirtschaft (Aalen) 3000 UAS
http://www.htw-aalen.de/personal-
32
popup.php?eid=455&sid=2&auswahl=Professoren&SID=ac2f
2c6f9343df6a876
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin 38960 U http://www.wiwi.hu-berlin.de/Professuren/bwl/ei
Fachhochschule für Wirtschaft 5110 UAS http://www.fhw-berlin.de/index.php?id=1697&L=0#c4135
Freie Universität Berlin 35500 U http://www.fu-faltin.de/lehre.html
Fachhochschule des Mittelstands
(FHM Bielefeld) 300 UAS http://www.fhm-bielefeld.de/nachfolge.html
Universität Bremen 22816 U http://www.lemex.uni-bremen.de/cms404/
Technische Universität
Darmstadt 19000 TU http://www.bwl.tu-darmstadt.de/bwl10/?FG=bwl
Fachhochschule Deggendorf 2450 UAS http://www.fh-deggendorf.de/mb/prof/lendner/index.html
Universität Dortmund 24000 U http://www.wiso.uni-dortmund.de/igm/de/
Technische Universität Dresden 35000 TU http://www.tu-dresden.de/wwbwlsap/index.php?link=aktuelles
Fachhochschule Eberswalde 1500 UAS
www.fh-
eberswalde.de/de/Fachbereiche/Wirtschaft/Team/ProfBenedi
kt/K1173.htm
Fachhochschule Erfurt 7000 UAS http://www.fh-erfurt.de/wi/portrait/prof/schwarz/schwarz.htm
Universität Duisburg-Essen 33803 U http://www.e-entrepreneurship.com/
Zeppelin University gGmbH 360 U http://www.zeppelin-university.de/index_de.php?navid=0
Fachhochschule Gelsenkirchen 3600 UAS http://www3.fh-gelsenkirchen.de/entrepreneurship/
Fachhochschule Gießen-
Friedberg 10000 UAS http://www.fh-friedberg.de/fachbereiche/suk/suk/team.html
Fachhochschule Nürtingen 4000 UAS http://www.hfwu.de/profhp/heinzelmann/index.html
Private Fachhochschule
Göttingen 350 UAS
Georg - August - Universität
http://www.pfh-goettingen.de/pfh.php?pid=pfh&uid=
professoren_reinemann
Göttingen 24000 U http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/sh/44786.html

Name of HEI Students* Type** Homepage
Fern-Universität Hagen 45000 U http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/hering/
Fachhochschule Ingolstadt 3000 UAS http://www.fh-ingolstadt.de/Wittmann.HTM
BiTS, Business and Information
Technology School Iserlohn 400 BS
http://www.bits-
33
iserlohn.de/content.php?lang=de&folder=167&dataentry=1
Universität Karlsruhe 19000 TU http://www.iep.uni-karlsruhe.de/14.php
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu
Kiel 23000 U http://www.uni-kiel.de/gruendung/
Fachhochschule Koblenz 12500 UAS
http://www.fh-
koblenz.de/Prof_Dr_Martin_Kaschny.kaschny.0.html
Hochschule Anhalt 6200 UAS http://www.emw.hs-anhalt.de/forschung/aninstitute/index.html
Fachhochschule Lübeck 3445 UAS http://www.fh-luebeck.de/content/04_03/3/447.html
Universität Lüneburg 10400 U http://www.uni-lueneburg.de/fb2/gruendmgm
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität
Magdeburg 12220 U http://www.interaktionszentrum.de/
Fachhochschule Mainz 4400 UAS
http://www.fh-
mainz.de/index.php?id=172&lastArticle=14&cHash=7fc1da9b
a7#14
Technische Universität München 22000 TU http://www.wi.tum.de/ef/index_html
Fachhochschule München 14000 UAS
http://www.bw.fh-
muenchen.de/?site=personal_detail.php&id=675&typ=profess
or
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität 47500 U http://www.inno-tec.bwl.uni-muenchen.de/mitarbeiter/harhoff/
European Business School 1200 BS http://www.ebs.de/index.php?id=625&L=1%3Fid%3D323
Carl von Ossietzky Universität
Oldenburg 14000 U http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/fk2/entrepreneurship/
Fachhochschule Pforzheim 4595 UAS
http://www.mba-
ue.de/r300_Personen/r732_Hochschullehrer/index.php?we_o
bjectID=35
Fachhochschule Potsdam 2200 UAS http://www.fh-potsdam.de/biem0.html
Universität Potsdam 17982 U http://www.uni-potsdam.de/db/reger/

Name of HEI Students* Type** Homepage
Fachhochschule Bonn-Rhein-
Sieg 4506 UAS http://ifem.fh-brs.de/Impressum.html
Fachhochschule Schmalkalden 3500 UAS http://www.fh-schmalkalden.de/Prof__Dr__F__Kugler.html
Fachhochschule Lausitz 3100 UAS http://prof-wehling.de/level9_cms/
Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal 6500 UAS
Fachhochschule Stralsund 2734 UAS
http://www.hs-magdeburg.de/fachbereiche/f-
34
wirtschaft/mitarbeiter/lehrende/meisel/index_html/view?sea
http://www.fh-
stralsund.de/mitarbeiter/powerslave,id,46,nodeid,174.html
Universität Hohenheim 5545 U http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/i3v/00000700/00790041.htm
Fachhochschule Stuttgart –
Hochschule der Medien 3200 UAS
http://www.hdm-
stuttgart.de/forschung/institute/existenzgruender/mec/news
Universität Witten/Herdecke 1112 U http://wga.dmz.uni-wh.de/wiwi/html/default/corpfinance_profil
Bergische Universität Wuppertal 13676 U http://www.brauk.uni-wuppertal.de/
Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz 3800 UAS http://www.hs-zigr.de/matnat
Universität Kassel 16748 U http://www.uni-kassel.de
Source: IWH
* Winter term 2006-2007
** U (university), TU (technical university), UAS (university of applied sciences), BS (business school)