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

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.
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