The status of entrepreneurship education in Australian universities

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical overview of the current state of entrepreneurship education (EE) in Australia; placing emphasis on programs, curricula and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors performed a contextual review of the literature by delineating entrepreneurship education programs, the entrepreneurial ecosystem and EE learning and teaching. The review was enhanced by a systematic collection of data from higher education institutions web sites, depicting the prevailing situation of entrepreneurship programs, courses, subjects and their ecosystems.

Findings

A number of interesting findings emerged from this study. From a curricular perspective, Australian universities offer 584 subjects related to entrepreneurship. This includes dominance at undergraduate level, representing 24 minors/majors and specializations in entrepreneurship. In total, 135 entrepreneurship ecosystems were identified.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents findings from university web sites and as such requires introspection to validate individual university offerings.

Practical implications

The study provides the status of EE in Australia, and may guide academic and policy decision makers to further develop entrepreneurship initiatives.

Originality/value

This paper provides the first analytical overview of EE in Australia and paves the way for further evaluation.

Citation

Maritz, A., Jones, C. and Shwetzer, C. (2015), "The status of entrepreneurship education in Australian universities", Education + Training, Vol. 57 No. 8/9, pp. 1020-1035. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-04-2015-0026