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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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.
Page 1 and 2: Entrepreneurial Education in German
Page 3 and 4: 1. Introduction Entrepreneurial edu
Page 5 and 6: founded between 1901 and 1990. The
Page 7: and medium sized firms face increas
Page 11 and 12: Figure 8 Content of entrepreneurshi
Page 13 and 14: HEI, especially small private schoo
Page 15 and 16: Figure 10 Cooperation between entre
Page 17 and 18: The university was originally found
Page 19 and 20: working as director at the Business
Page 21 and 22: Infrastructure in support of Entrep
Page 23 and 24: Cognitive Science, and five special
Page 25 and 26: Entrepreneurial Education The chair
Page 27 and 28: of study offered in the academic fi
Page 29 and 30: institution focusing on the promoti
Page 31 and 32: A measurable outcome of entrepreneu
Page 33 and 34: Name of HEI Students* Type** Homepa

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?