Entrepreneurship education programs in Malaysian polytechnics

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to evaluate students’ views on the on-the-campus entrepreneurship programs in Malaysian polytechnics. Participation in the entrepreneurship programs is able to stimulate an interest in entrepreneurship, and improve the knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurial experience of its students. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a survey method designed in the form of an objective-oriented program evaluation. Questionnaires were used to identify the students’ level of assessments of the instructional dimensions. This study explored the differences in evaluation based on gender, specializations, and courses attended. Findings The results showed moderately high level of evaluation. The analysis of gender differences shows that gender did not affect students’ views on the instructional dimension. However, students’ specialization and courses attended are associated with significant differences in the level of evaluation Research limitations/implications This research is limited to only five Malaysian polytechnics. The study was looking into the instructional dimension of the entrepreneurship programs. Further research should include the assessment of the institutional side of the programs. . Practical implications The evaluation results provide important recommendations to improve some practical aspects of the entrepreneurial activities. The polytechnics’ departments can focus on the actual content as well as on the learning experience to implement conducive, positive, and supportive practices that could lead to a maximum participation rate among students. Originality/value There have been no discussions or evaluation of the entrepreneurship programs conducted in Malaysian polytechnics in terms of objective-oriented evaluation. This paper attempts to fill the current gap.

Beyond ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’ to ‘know-who’: enhancing human capital with social capital in an Australian start-up accelerator

“…Up until the early 2000s, entrepreneurship education was largely confined to North America (Katz 2003). However, since then, given the success of early internet start-ups driven by the development of the Internet, entrepreneurship education programmes have grown rapidly in many parts of the world, and has experienced phenomenal expansion in the Asia Pacific (Kelley and Thomas 2011;Seet and Seet 2006;Norasmah and Norfadhilah 2016;Matlay 2016). Among the various innovations in entrepreneurship education, start-up accelerators were formed as a response to address the high attrition and other errors that emerged from the dot-com bubble and the Global Financial Crisis (Haines 2014a).…”

“…For example, Malaysia launched its Higher Education Institute Entrepreneurship Foundation (HEIEF) in 2010 to create high-quality talent with the intellectual attributes and entrepreneurship values required to achieve its New Economy Model by 2020 (MOHE 2010). Although start-up accelerators only began supplementing other entrepreneurship education programmes and incubator facilities from about 2012 onwards, this has helped contribute to university graduates engaging directly with entrepreneurial activities with 1114 graduates in 2011 growing to 1273 in 2012 and accelerating to 2387 in 2013, and 4060 in 2014 (Othman and Nasrudin 2016). Similarly, it is estimated that the number of students exposed to entrepreneurship knowledge and skills development through structured programmes had increased by 30 per cent in 2014 (Norfadhilah 2014).…”

Written Communication in Entrepreneurship Course in Malaysian Vocational Colleges: A Qualitative Inquiry

“…The studies examined EE curriculum's significance mostly from students' perception, instructors' feedback as well as analysis of the materials and approaches used in the EE programs offered in the HLIs (Ahmad & Buchanan, 2016;Ahmad, Ismail, & Buchanan, 2014;Chang, Liu, & Chiang, 2014;Din, Anuar, & Usman, 2016;Hasan et al, 2017;Othman & Nasrudin, 2016;Rahim et al, 2015).…”

Promoting Entrepreneurial Competencies via Education: Is Malaysian Polytechnic Entrepreneurship Education Effective?

“…Based on the assumption that 'entrepreneurs can be made' [7], the importance of entrepreneurship education (EE) in the development of future entrepreneurs has become a major concern of many parties including the policy makers. In Malaysia, EE is seen as crucial for the success of the nation's new mission of building a high-income economy [8]. Thus, the Malaysian government had put the utmost efforts toward the realization of the New Economy Model (NEM), through the launch of the development of the Higher Education Institute Entrepreneurship Foundation (HEIEF) on February 18, 2010.…”

“…The study by author [10] had motivated another study to continue investigating the effectiveness of the MPEE. The recent study by author [8], however, tend to focus on the impact of entrepreneurial teaching dimension as perceived by the students as well as students' readiness for entrepreneurship. However, the loophole in the MPEE remains.…”