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This chapter provides an interpretive account of how a large student cohort deals with a major inquiry-based learning (IBL) assessment task in a first-year Marketing Principles subject in undergraduate business studies. It offers a practical example of IBL in action in a discipline that has hitherto received little attention in the IBL literature, namely business, specifically marketing. The chapter positions IBL within the various contemporary pedagogies. The context of Hutchings and O’Rourke’s (2006) study of IBL in action is extended for first-year cohorts, technology-enhanced teaching and the marketing discipline. Further, Hutchings and O’Rourke’s four-part method for describing IBL in action is followed: (1) the enabling factors for the students’ work are described; (2) the process for which they decided on the task is discussed; (3) the method of work is considered, namely ongoing collaboration in a wiki and (4) the outcomes produced are discussed. The chapter reflects on the effects of the IBL task on student learning from both students’ and instructors’ points of view. Material from the students’ work and feedback after completion of the IBL task is used to illustrate the process and inform the interpretive account. The main lessons to be learnt for educators are summarised.

Prior learning and prior knowledge are among the most dependable and consistent factors in predicting students’ success (Richardson et al., 2012). Although for UK Higher Education, the traditional A-level (advanced level qualification) remains the principal qualification students use to gain entry to University, there has been a small but significant rise in alternative qualifications, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) and vocational qualifications such as that from the Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC). The multidisciplinary nature of Psychology means students enter the degree program with a range of qualifications in differing topic areas. The current case study aimed to assess if science qualifications aided student success in the University of Liverpool’s Psychology course. Ordinal regression and correlations were used to examine the impact of prior qualifications on three first-year cohort module scores (Psychobiology, Social psychology, and Research Methods) and the overall degree mark across three cohorts of Psychology students (n = 1,072). University entry grades showed a significant overall and subject specific effect of scientific prior knowledge. However, the effects of previous qualifications were not cumulative and did not persist beyond the first year of study. These findings were strongest for Chemistry in the Psychobiology module suggesting that scientific literacy – the understanding of scientific concepts, phenomena, and processes, as well as an individual’s ability to apply such knowledge to new or non-scientific situations (Schleicher, 2019) – rather than domain-specific knowledge is driving such increase in grades. A negative relationship was seen for those holding BTEC qualifications, suggesting that vocational qualifications, specifically for this Psychology program, were of less use than academic ones, even if topic areas were similar – a finding which may also apply to other academic based courses, and warrants further study. Although the advantage of prior qualifications diminishes across the course of study, this small but distinct advantage suggests that making a science qualification a requirement for a place on a Psychology degree course would be a beneficial step for admissions tutors to consider.

Concept maps are popularly used within academic development spaces, especially to teach new concepts at beginner levels for undergraduate students. Their popularity is partly based on the fact that they employ visual tools such as charts, diagrams, pictures, tables, etc., to simplify concepts that students would otherwise consider dense. This paper reports on the findings of an extended orientation project conducted between February and June of 2022 with a small cohort of 15 first-year students registered in an entrepreneurship course at a vocational higher education institution in South Africa. The research question guiding this study is: How can concept maps inspire entrepreneurial thinking for first-year ECP students at a vocational institution in South Africa? Using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), I analysed the two iterations of the students' concept maps together with selected data from the focus group interviews. Key findings reported include the students' fuzzy knowledge of what entrepreneurship as a discipline entails, the planned career trajectories for most of the participating students, as well as indecisiveness as to whether the students will be pursuing entrepreneurship after graduation. In the language of CHAT, the above findings are described as presenting tensions between the subject, tool and object. This layer of analysis calls for an urgent re-think of how the students are recruited and orientated into the programme and how the curriculum is delivered at the first-year level.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the question ‘Why reflection is important to introduce in the teaching and learning’. This paper commences with a brief literature review on reflection, followed by the provision of tentative results of a study on the role of reflection in learning. Data collected from a sample population of 257 undergraduate students at business ethics undergraduate class in Australia were analysed. The data were collected from students’ own reflections that formed part of two of their assessments in the unit. In the first assessment, students were asked to reflect on their own moral development, using Schon’s reflection in and on action, to allow the markers understand the students’ own moral development as highlighted by Kohlberg levels and stages of Moral Development. In the second assessment, the students were asked to reflect on their personal learning as a global citizen and how this assessment has informed their views and perspective on ethical decision-making process and global citizenship using one of the frameworks introduced during the semester (e.g. situation, task, action, result, learning, planning – S.T.A.R.L.P., Gibbs or Kolb). This paper will not discuss students moral developments levels or their ethical decision making, but, will only discuss the ‘reflection’, thus, the findings from this research come in twofold: (i) students acknowledged the new skills they gained, the development of other skills they had through their reflections, such as critical thinking, time management. (ii) Most of the students have demonstrated an understanding of reflection in higher education, and ethical decision making, through use of different frameworks. However, some students felt reflection is difficult, thus, the paper concludes with a recommendation to introduce reflection in the first year of university.

This chapter describes the development of a two-course sequence, which explicitly breaks down the silos between the accounting and finance disciplines. A descriptive narrative demonstrates how these courses integrate introductory courses in general business, managerial accounting, financial accounting and finance, and are taught freshman year. The courses are based around an 18-chapter Instructional Narrative about a fictitious company, Windspark, which evolves from a start-up service business in the wind turbine industry to a retailer of parts and then a manufacturer. Topics are introduced as the entrepreneurs in the Instructional Narrative require business knowledge. Individual faculty members teach an entire course, rather than teams comprised from different disciplines. A diagnostic quiz at the beginning of the second course tests students’ understanding and retention of material in the first course. The vast majority of students pass the diagnostic quiz on the first try. Despite its rigor and difficulty, the sequence has coincided with a significant uptick in students choosing to major in finance and accounting. This sequence demonstrates the feasibility and replicability of teaching a truly integrated introductory accounting and finance course sequence. Greater coordination and cooperation between disciplines is possible, with measurable benefits for students.

The point of this study is to review the effect of entrepreneur education on the venture intention among the female undergraduate in the Nigeria University. The structural equation modelling was used in the equation analysis. The findings of the study will increase the awareness and acumen of entrepreneurship among female students. The analysis will help in developing entrepreneurial skills and aptitudes in the university’s business curriculum, which provides far-reaching exposure of critical thinking sessions that stimulate the generation of business ideas. It also helps to tailor business ideas to study and interest activities to motivate active participation, inspired progressively in the Nigeria ambience.

This chapter contains a critical interview with Prof. Alex Antonites, the Head of the Department (HoD) of Business Management at the University of Pretoria (UP). Prof. Antonites has been instrumental in introducing values-based ethical pedagogy to higher business education at UP’s Department of Business Management. Under Prof. Antonites’s leadership, the department has introduced business ethics content in first-year management modules and the department has pioneered one of the first fully fledged second- and third-year Responsible Leadership and Business Ethics-oriented curriculum for undergraduate students on the African continent. The department’s Albert Luthuli Leadership Institute (ALLI) has also been instrumental in advancing ethical organisational development on the African continent through their postgraduate Responsible Leadership offering at the master’s and doctoral level. In this iconic interview, Prof. Alex Antonites discusses what it will take to blaze a trail to Mzansi’s (South Africa’s nickname) prosperity with Jameo Calvert, a student of both business and education at UP. In this engaging conversation with Jameo, Prof. Antonites articulates how South African enterprises and higher education institutions can make a positive difference in the post-Covid-19 era in realising the country’s developmental aspirations by walking their business ethics talk.

This chapter presents a recent study which explored the impact of entrepreneurship education on South African tourism students' entrepreneurial intention, regarding starting a tourism-related business after graduation. The study used a structured questionnaire to collect data from randomly selected tourism students in a South African comprehensive University. Study findings show that entrepreneurship education has an influence on tourism students' entrepreneurial intentions and perceptions of desirability and feasibility. The study results moreover reveal that having entrepreneurial family background and entrepreneurship education played a role in achieving entrepreneurial attributes and desirability. The adoption of various reform programmes targeted at enhancing the graduate employability and/or self-employment, such as the inclusion of a new entrepreneurial track to the undergraduate curriculum, is one of the study's recommendations for the department of tourism studied. Students should be encouraged to apply for the entrepreneurship education track, which includes business training as well as customised coaching and mentorship sessions with accomplished businesspeople, as early as in their first academic year.

This chapter uses the re-development of an undergraduate business degree in a large Australasian university as a case study of the systematic embedding of social responsibility into the curriculum. The chapter discusses the drivers for curriculum change including the converging desires of both employers and students for business education to not only equip graduates with thinking skills for a fast-changing future but also provide guidance to students on becoming ethical leaders. The design thinking process that underpinned the curriculum re-development is outlined and the graduate profile and curriculum structure that emerged from the process are discussed. The graduate profile includes an aspirational goal for students to be future generators for sustainable value for business and society at large. Attainment of this goal is supported by development of other aspects of the graduate profile and the structure of the degree itself. Students are required to undertake multi/interdisciplinary study in order to expose them to different perspectives and ways of thinking and doing. They are scaffolded through the development of an understanding of social responsibility in business and the application of ethical frameworks to complex problems over the course of three years, through four compulsory courses. The chapter notes the importance of the hidden curriculum in teaching social responsibility and demonstrates how the teaching of social responsibility in the business curriculum is reinforced through the structure of the degree and consistency with both the Business School’s and University’s mission.