Abstract
This paper is concerned with the retrospective per-
ceptions of alumni towards the general provision of
entrepreneurship education in higher education
institutions (HEIs). Whilst many HEIs provide
some form of enterprise training for their student
population, relatively few have considered extend-
ing this provision to their alumni community. In
addition to exploring retrospective perceptions, the
research sought to ascertain the current level of
entrepreneurial behaviour and the future entrepre-
neurial ambitions of alumni, and attempted to
determine the demand for post-quali®cation entre-
preneurship training among HEI alumni. The
results are encouraging, in that they demonstrate a
keen interest amongst alumni in entrepreneurial
activities. The main constraints to setting up in
business were perceived to be the generation of a
viable idea and the lack of both ®nance and experi-
ence. Respondents believed that HEIs should pro-
vide a more practical grounding for graduates,
speci®cally citing ®nancial management and busi-
ness communications skills as key elements missing
from the undergraduate curriculum. There was a
consensus that HEIs have an important role to
play in providing alumni with both formal post-
quali®cation training and social support networks
to encourage entrepreneurial activity.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 229-239 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1999 |
Keywords
- HEIs
- entrepreneurship education
- graduates
- alumni